(1961-04-25) 25 April 1961 (age 63) Chkhalta, Abkhaz ASSR, Georgian SSR, Soviet Union (now Abkhazia, Georgia)
Allegiance
Georgia
Battles/wars
Abkhaz–Georgian conflict
War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)
2001 Kodori crisis
2006 Kodori crisis
Emzar Kvitsiani (Georgian: ემზარ კვიციანი, [ɛmzɑr kʼvitsʰiɑni]ⓘ; born 25 April 1961) is a former Georgian military commander and politician. He took part in the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993), forming a paramilitary group Monadire in the upper Kodori valley, guarding it from Abkhaz forces. He was mainly active in Kodori valley, which he ran de facto through his militia from 1992 to 2006. In 1999, President Eduard Shevardnadze appointed Kvitsiani to the post of President's special envoy to Kodori valley. In 2001, Kvitsiani allegedly cooperated with Chechen field commander Ruslan Gelayev in an attempt to bring Abkhazia back under Georgian control. Kvitsiani opposed the Rose Revolution, which subsequently led to confrontation with the Georgia's central authorities under Mikheil Saakashvili. President Sakaashvili removed him from his official government position in December 2004 and later disbanded the Monadire in April 2005. Kvitsiani declared defiance to the authorities in 2006 and was subsequently ousted by the Georgian government forces. He fled to North Caucasus, but, in 2014, he was arrested on his return to Georgia, initially sentenced to 16 years in jail, and then released under a plea bargain in early 2015.[1] He was one of the leaders of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia and a member of Parliament of Georgia.[2]
^Fuller, Liz (28 January 2015). "Georgian Court Releases Jailed Warlord". Radio Free Europe. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
^Alliance of Patriots of Georgia. "Leadership: Emzar Kvitsiani". Archived from the original on 21 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
EmzarKvitsiani (Georgian: ემზარ კვიციანი, [ɛmzɑr kʼvitsʰiɑni]; born 25 April 1961) is a former Georgian military commander and politician. He took part...
მონადირე) was an armed formation and a militia initially created by EmzarKvitsiani within Upper Abkhazia. The militia consisted of ethnic Svans living...
been run, until the 2006 crisis, by a local authority and warlord EmzarKvitsiani, who previously led the defense of the gorge against the Abkhaz separatist...
Kodori Gorge, in which a local militia, led by the defiant warlord EmzarKvitsiani, had been largely disarmed, and the constitutional order restored in...
Interior Ministry special forces to disarm the local paramilitary leader, EmzarKvitsiani. With the restoration of the Georgian jurisdiction in the area, the...
rebelled administrator of the Georgian-populated Kodori Gorge, EmzarKvitsiani. Kvitsiani had been appointed by the previous president of Georgia Eduard...
Kodori Gorge (which remained under the control of the Georgian warlord EmzarKvitsiani until July 2006 and later the Tbilisi government until August 2008)...
political secretary. The party leadership also includes former warlord EmzarKvitsiani, a figure that has attracted significant controversy. The Alliance...
and the area had largely been run, since 1994, by the local warlord EmzarKvitsiani, who was dislodged in the Georgian police operation in 2006. On September...
Georgia's police forces disarmed a defiant militia led by a local warlord EmzarKvitsiani. In his foreign policy, Saakashvili maintained close ties with the...
Georgian authorities however it was mainly run by a local strongman EmzarKvitsiani. As a result of the 2006 Kodori crisis Georgia reasserted its power...
government was in the midst of clashes in the Kodori Valley against warlord EmzarKvitsiani. During local elections that same year, he called on the Prosecutor's...
party leader in 2006 when he was arrested on charges of encouraging EmzarKvitsiani in his activities in the Kodori Valley. Union of Citizens of Georgia...
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