Sakartwelos Mchedrioni
The Sakartwelos Mchedrioni ( Georgian საქართველოს მხედრიონი ; German Georgian horsemen ) were a paramilitary unit in Georgia . It was founded in 1989, was subordinate to the warlord Jaba Iosseliani and was involved in the 1991 coup against the first freely elected President of Georgia, Swiad Gamsachurdia . The unit was banned in 1995 and was re-established in 2003 as the Union of Patriots political party .
founding
It was founded in the final phase of the Soviet Union , when Georgia pushed for independence and ethnic minorities in Georgia such as Abkhazians and South Ossetians demanded their own state. It was one of several paramilitary units that were set up at the time to enforce the respective ethno-nationalist interests.
The founder of the Mchedrioni was the writer Dschaba Iosseliani, who enjoyed a legendary reputation as the godfather of organized crime in Georgia. The unit presented itself as the heir of guerrilla groups who throughout the history of Georgia had fought against the occupation of the country by Persians , Ottomans and Russians . Mchedrioni literally means “rider” , but in Georgian it also means “knight” . Each member of the unit had to take an oath on Georgia, its people and the Georgian Orthodox Church of the Apostles , and received a necklace with a pendant showing Saint George killing a dragon.
The Mchedrioni soon acquired the reputation of a heavily armed criminal gang in Georgia. In public they attracted attention because of a kind of uniform consisting of jeans, sweater, jacket and sunglasses, which was even worn in closed rooms. Its members routinely violated human rights and committed crimes in the areas they controlled. The preferred offense was extortion , but they were also responsible for rape , looting and kidnapping .
In 1991 the unit had around 8,000 members, making it stronger than the government forces.
Coup
Soon after the first free election in Georgia, Georgia's President Zviad Gamsakhurdia turned against the Mchedrioni. In February 1991 their leader Iosseliani and many of his supporters were arrested and the unit banned. In December of the same year Iosseliani allied himself with the masterminds of a coup against Gamsakhurdia and was released from prison. The Mchedrioni took part in the implementation of the coup and besieged government buildings in central Tbilisi with other rebel units. According to official estimates, 100 to 1,000 people were killed. According to unofficial estimates, it was 2,000. The siege of the parliament building demanded a particularly high toll in blood. About 700 people are said to have died.
Seizure of power
After the fall of Gamsachurias, the Mchedrioni assumed a central role in Georgia. Their leader Iosseliani became one of the leaders of the ruling military council and was instrumental in bringing the former Georgian Communist Party leader Eduard Shevardnadze back to Tbilisi as head of state and moderate figurehead of the coup . Shevardnadze was initially completely dependent on the Mchedrioni. The paramilitaries were even allowed to appear armed as bodyguards for Iosseliani in the Georgian parliament . They exploited the land, controlled all profitable export industries and the distribution of mineral oil . Mkhedrioni leaders were involved in the illegal privatization of two mineral water factories in Borjomi .
In 1992 the Mchedrioni, together with Georgian government troops , triggered the Abkhaz civil war . It ended with a disastrous defeat for the Georgian troops, who were driven out of the region along with the entire Georgian population. Over 10,000 people were killed in the fighting.
In September 1993, former President Gamsakhurdia took the opportunity to start an armed uprising in western Georgia in order to return to power. Together with Russian troops, the Mchedrioni fought back Gamsakhurdia's supporters. They are also believed to have been implicated in Gamsakhurdia's death on December 31, 1993. He allegedly committed suicide after being surrounded by Mchedrioni units. The Mchedrioni have always rejected this.
The Georgian government then entrusted the unit with the task of eliminating the remaining supporters of Gamsakhurdia, known as Sviadists, in western Georgia. Their brutal behavior sparked sharp criticism from foreign governments and international human rights organizations. Shevardnadze gradually restricted the power of the Mchredrioni. In February 1994, the unit was formally dissolved and incorporated into a civil organization, the rescue corps. Iosseliani became chief of the corps and continued to lead it like his private army. In 1995, Shevardnadze ordered the corps to be disarmed, accusing it of deep involvement in organized crime. On August 29, 1995, he narrowly escaped a bomb attack on his life. He blamed a shadow coalition of “mafia forces” , to which Iosseliani would also belong. The Mchedrioni were declared illegal and Iosseliani and many of his followers were arrested.
Many members of the Mchedrioni were secretly murdered in prison by contract killers of the old criminal caste. The prison authorities helped cover up the crime.
Political party
In 1999 the Mchedrioni were re-established as a political organization under Tornike Berishvili. She is said to have had ties with Chechen rebels and continued to be involved in criminal and paramilitary activities, including a. in guerrilla operations in Abkhazia. Iosseliani was released from prison after an amnesty in April 2000 and took over the leadership of the Mchedrioni until his death in March 2003. Because the organization was forbidden to take part in elections in Georgia under the incriminated name, it registered as a party under the name Union of Patriots , to which some Swiadists also joined. Its chairman, Badri Sarandia, was killed in an attack on January 8, 2003. The party no longer plays a role in the Georgian political landscape.
literature
- Georgi Glonti: Problems Associated with Organized Crime in Georgia: Report for Institute of Legal Reform . Tbilisi 2000
- Pavel Baev, Jan Koehler, Christoph Zürcher: Civil Wars in the Caucasus . World Bank and Yale University, first draft, March 15, 2002
- Christian Knights Claim Key Role in Georgia . The Washington Post, Jan. 14, 1992
- Georgian fighter wields guns, money and charm . The New York Times, November 16, 1993
- Obituaries: Dzhaba Ioseliani, 76: Oft-Imprisoned Leader of Georgian Paramilitary Force . Los Angeles Times, March 5, 2003
- Obituary: Jaba Ioseliani: Violent warlord in post-Communist Georgia . The Independent, March 25, 2003