1. Jaba Ioseliani was a Georgian politician, member of Parliament of Georgia, writer, thief-in-law and leader of the paramilitary organisation Mkhedrioni.
15 Facts About Jaba Ioseliani
1. 2.
Jaba Ioseliani staged a bank robbery in Leningrad in 1948, for which he served 17 years in a Soviet jail.
3.
Jaba Ioseliani eventually returned to his native Georgia and graduated from the Georgian Institute of Theater Arts, where he became a professor.
4.
Jaba Ioseliani rose to prominence as the leader of the Mkhedrioni, a heavily armed paramilitary group which he founded in 1989.
5.
Jaba Ioseliani attempted to take control of large areas of Abkhazia and South Ossetia with the goal of defeating regional separatist elements.
6.
In December 1991, Jaba Ioseliani escaped from prison and joined forces with rebel members of the Georgian National Guard to launch a violent coup d'etat that forced President Zviad Gamsakhurdia out of office in January 1992.
7.
Jaba Ioseliani subsequently became a powerful figure in the government of President Eduard Shevardnadze, who was forced to rely heavily on Mkhedrioni militiamen because of the weakness of the state security forces.
8.
Jaba Ioseliani made it clear who he thought was the senior partner: his office in the Georgian Parliament building was located directly above Shevardnadze's and he was constantly surrounded with armed followers wherever he went.
9.
Jaba Ioseliani's actions earned him many enemies: on 13 June 1992, there was a failed assassination attempt against Ioseliani with a car bomb, resulting in the death of 5 people.
10.
Jaba Ioseliani played a major role in the War in Abkhazia, which ended in a crushing defeat for government and Mkhedrioni forces in September 1993.
11.
Jaba Ioseliani used these powers enthusiastically, imposing a severely repressive regime that was widely criticised by international human rights organisations.
12.
Jaba Ioseliani was detained on 15 November 1995 and held for three years pending trial, then on 10 November 1998 sentenced to 11 years for banditry, terrorism, and conspiring to kill Shevardnadze.
13.
Jaba Ioseliani denied the charges and was eventually released in the spring of 2000 in a general amnesty of convicts.
14.
Jaba Ioseliani suffered a heart attack on 26 February 2003 and died in a Tbilisi hospital a week later.
15.
Jaba Ioseliani is buried in the Pantheon of Didube, Tbilisi.