Igor Giorgadze

Igor Giorgadze ( Georgian იგორ გიორგაძე ; born July 23, 1950 in Saissan , Kazakh SSR ) is a Georgian politician. From 1968 to 1991 he was a KGB officer. From 1993 to 1995 he was the Georgian Minister for State Security. He left Georgia after he was accused of masterminding an assassination attempt on President Eduard Shevardnadze on August 29, 1995. From Russia , he heads the Georgian Samartlianoba (German Justice ) party and the Georgian party alliance anti- Soros movement .

Life

KGB officer

He was born the son of General of the Soviet Army Panteleimon Giorgadze .

In 1968 Giorgadze joined the KGB and began studying at the Secret Service College in Moscow . In 1973 he completed his studies as a law and linguist. He then took on various tasks at the Georgian KGB. From 1980 to 1981 he took part in the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and was a member of the Kaskad working group in Kandahar . He was promoted to Lieutenant General of the KGB, received 15 prestigious awards, including the title of Honorary Officer of the KGB of the USSR and the Medal For Merit in Combat .

State Security Minister

From 1992 to 1993 he supported the putschists against the ousted President Sviad Gamsakhurdia in the Georgian civil war . In 1993 they appointed him Minister for State Security. During his tenure, the secret service became a central factor in Georgian politics and worked closely with the Russian secret service Federalnaya Sluschba Kontrraswedki (FSK) and its successor, the FSB .

After the assassination attempt on President Eduard Shevardnadze on August 29, 1995, he was accused of being a mastermind. He evaded arrest by fleeing to a Georgian base of the Russian Armed Forces Group in Transcaucasia (GRVZ). From there he was brought to Russia. In an open letter from October 1995, he denied any involvement in the attack and accused Shevardnadze of trying to disempower him politically.

Georgia's security authorities accused Giorgadze of being involved in further political attacks during 1994 and 1995 and had him searched for 18 different crimes on an international arrest warrant. Giorgadze initially lived undercover in Russia, working as a security advisor for companies and governments. Since May 2006 he has been living officially in Russia. Russia regularly rejects extradition requests from Georgia, Interpol and the United States Congress .

Opposition politician

In 2000 Giogadze reported back to Georgian politics. He tried to run as a candidate for the United Communist Party of Georgia in the presidential election. But the Central Election Commission refused to register him. In July 2001, the Samschoblo (German Fatherland ) association with the subtitle All-Georgian Patriotic Alliance , to which nine different parties and political organizations belong , was registered in Tbilisi . She elected Giorgadze as her chairman.

In 2003 he founded the Samartlianoba political party . In 2004 he tried again as a presidential candidate, but was again sorted out by the electoral commission.

In 2005 he initiated the party alliance Anti-Soros Movement , to which three other parties belong besides Samartlianoba . The name of the refers to the American investment banker and philanthropist George Soros , who financially supported the supporters of the Rose Revolution in Georgia. The alliance advocates close economic and political ties with Russia and criticizes the course of Georgia's integration into the West . The anti-Soros movement finds little support in the population . Political opponents accuse her of being controlled by the Russian secret service.

In May 2006, at a press conference in Moscow, Giorgadze threatened a nettle revolution in Georgia if President Mikheil Saakashvili and his National Movement - Democrats party did not surrender power.

On September 6, 2006, Georgian police arrested 29 members of Giorgadze's Samartlianoba party . Pre-trial detention was ordered against twelve of them. They are accused of planning a coup d'état against President Saakashvili and his government and of collaborating with a foreign secret service. When party offices were searched, guns and black money were found.

Web links

• Murder allegations against Giorgadses, his escape from Georgia (en)