Georgia commemorates national hero Zhiuli Shartava
Remaining in government offices in Sokhumi until the moment of the city’s capture, Shartava was "excessively tortured” following his capture, a United Nations report later revealed. Photo: history.mod.gov.ge.
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Zhiuli Shartava, the first national hero of the independent Georgia, is being remembered today, 29 years after his death during the war in the country’s now-occupied region of Abkhazia.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili called Shartava “the best representative of his generation, a patriot distinguished by dignity, patriotism and education” who “fought to the end of his life for the unity of Georgians and Abkhazians.”
The Government head also noted Shartava’s “resilience and devotion to the homeland is a guide for each of us, for all future generations”, in his commemoration of the Chair of the Council of Ministers of the Abkhazian Autonomous Republic.
Shartava was killed on September 27, 1993, on the day of the fall of Abkhazia’s regional capital Sokhumi to separatist forces, who captured the government official, along with a small group of Georgian and Abkhaz government officials and staff, in the city.
Remaining in government offices in Sokhumi until the moment of the city’s capture, Shartava was "excessively tortured” following his capture, a United Nations report later revealed.
Shartava chaired the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia during the war between the Georgian government and separatist forces in the region that lasted between 1992-1993 and resulted in tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers losing their lives and about 300,000 people being displaced.
Shartava was the first person to be awarded the title of the National Hero of Georgia in 2004. He was also posthumously awarded the Vakhtang Gorgasali First Degree State Medal.
The first national hero of independent Georgia is being remembered today 23 years after his death. Zhiuli Shartava, who chaired the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia during the Georgia-Abkhazia war in 1993, would have celebrated his 72nd birthday today.
The country’s first national hero of Independent Georgia is being remembered today 21 years after his death.
Georgia’s Defence Ministry and servicemembers of the Defence Forces on Saturday paid tribute to those who died in the 1993 Battle of Tamishi during the war in Georgia’s northeastern region of Abkhazia.
Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday reiterated the importance of peaceful reintegration of the Russian-occupied Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) regions of Georgia in comments marking the 29th anniversary of the fall of Sokhumi, the regional capital of the former, in the 1992-1993 conflict in the north-western region.
The United States embassy to Georgia on Tuesday paid tribute to the memory of those who died during the 1992-1993 war in Georgia’s north-western region of Abkhazia, a territory currently occupied by Russia.
Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili on Tuesday visited the Tbilisi memorial of those who died in conflicts for the territorial integrity of Georgia, as part of events marking the 29th anniversary of the fall of Sokhumi, the capital of Georgia’s north-western region of Abkhazia, in the 1992-1993 war in the region currently occupied by Russia.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze on Thursday commemorated Zhiuli Shartava, the late first national hero of the independent Georgia, who would have turned 80 today.