Emzar Kvitsiani

Emzar Kvitsiani (Georgian: ემზარ კვიციანი, [ɛmzɑr kʼvitsʰiɑni]^ⓘ; born 25 April 1961) is a former Georgian military commander, warlord, and politician.

Born in 1961 in the Abkhaz ASSR, an autonomous region of the Georgian SSR, one of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union, Kvitsiani took part in the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993), forming a paramilitary group the Monadire in the upper Kodori Valley, guarding it from Abkhaz forces. He was mainly active in the valley, which he de facto ruled over through his militia from 1992 to 2006.

In 1999, President Eduard Shevardnadze appointed Kvitsiani to the post of presidential special envoy to the Kodori Valley. Kvitsiani allegedly cooperated with Chechenfield commander Ruslan Gelayev in 2001 in an attempt to bring Abkhazia back under Georgian government control.

Kvitsiani later opposed the 2003 Rose Revolution, which subsequently led to confrontation with the Georgia's central authorities under Mikheil Saakashvili. As president, Sakaashvili removed him from his official government position in December 2004 and disbanded the Monadire in April 2005. Kvitsiani declared that he would openly defy the authorities and was subsequently ousted from the Kodori Valley in 2006. He fled to the Russian Federation’s North Caucasus region, where he lived for several years, but was arrested when he returned to Georgia in 2014.

Kvitsiani was initially sentenced to 16 years in jail, but was then released under a plea bargain in early 2015. He was one of the leaders of the Alliance of Patriots of Georgia and a member of Parliament of Georgia.