Tengiz Kitovani

Tengiz Kitovani (Georgian თენგიზ კიტოვანი; born June 9, 1939 in Tbilisi ) is a Georgian artists, warlord and politician. He led a successful coup against the first elected President of Georgia, Zviad Gamsakhurdia. From 1992 to 1993 he was a member of the Georgian State Council and at the same time Minister of Defence of Georgia.

Life

Kitovani lived first as an artist in the Tiflisser Bohème. In 1990, he joined the national independence movement in Georgia. In the same year he was elected to the first free elections in Georgia in the Supreme Soviet of the country.

President Zviad Gamsakhurdia appointed him as commander in chief of the newly created Georgian National Guard. In August 1991 he was replaced as commander because he had defied orders of the President. Kitovani joined the opposition.

Between December 1991 and January 1992, he organized a successful coup against Dschaba Iosseliani Gamsakhurdia. Under his leadership, the besieged parts of the Georgian National Guard, the parliament building in Tbilisi. On February 22, 1992, he became a member of the Provisional Government of Georgia, the State Council, and Minister of Defense. A month later he invited the former Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze, to take over the Presidency of the Council of State. In Abkhaz civil war from 1992 to 1993 he commanded the Georgian armed forces.

In May 1993, Shevardnadze Kitowanis forced resignation. The military leaders then founded with the former Georgian Prime Minister Tengiz Sigua the opposition party National Front. In January 1995, he started with former members of his People's Guard he a spontaneous military strike to retake Abkhazia. Kitovani and his followers were disarmed and detained by the Georgian army. He was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for organizing an illegal armed force in 1996.

In February 1999 Kitovani went on a hunger strike to achieve a resumption of his trial. On May 22, 1999, he was amnestied by Shevardnadze for health reasons. Efforts Kitowanis, again to play a role in Georgian politics have failed. Tengiz Kitovani now lives in Moscow.

  • Minister of Defence (Georgia)
  • Georgian
  • Born in 1939
  • Man
Jaba Ioseliani
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