The name of Emzar Kvitsiani — who once held unchecked sway over the Kodori Gorge — is rarely mentioned in Abkhazia. After all, a great deal of time has passed since the events when people spoke of him even on television screens. Recently, however, the Abkhazian segment of social media virtually exploded with comments on the subject of Kvitsiani's "heroism" during the Kodori events of August 2008. And some Abkhazian civic figures even called him a "savior," recounting the story of how Emzar Kvitsiani helped Abkhazian and Russian military personnel take control of the unruly district without excessive bloodshed.

Indeed, Emzar Kvitsiani is a highly ambiguous figure — and not only in the eyes of Abkhazia's authorities. It is not for nothing that the media dubbed him the "ringleader of the Svan mafia," which for many years imposed its own order and compelled hundreds of people to live by laws of its own making.

"He ruled the Kodori Gorge for far too long, periodically switching patrons — at times working for the Georgians, at times for the Abkhazians, at times for the Russians," says our interlocutor Giorgi. In the view of this participant in the Kodori events, Kvitsiani's role in resolving the situation has been greatly exaggerated. What is more, Giorgi believes that granting immunity to a person like Kvitsiani was a major mistake on Abkhazia's part.

Today the former criminal is considered a politician, behind whom stand a multitude of various titles and awards. During Eduard Shevardnadze's rule, he was even the Georgian government's plenipotentiary representative in the Kodori Gorge and commanded his own armed formation there. Under Mikhail Saakashvili's government, in 2006, a police operation allowed Georgian government forces to disarm the majority of this formation's members — though Kvitsiani himself and several of his associates managed to flee to Russia. Only in 2014 — already under Bidzina Ivanishvili's rule — did Kvitsiani return to Georgia, where he was arrested directly at the airport and sentenced to twelve years for creating an armed formation and insurrection. However, just a few months later, in early 2015, he was released under a plea agreement with the prosecution. A couple of months after that, Kvitsiani became one of the leaders of the Georgian party Alliance of Patriots of Georgia, which entered the Georgian parliament in 2016 and is preparing to participate once again in the parliamentary elections this October. Though Kvitsiani himself is no longer in the party — he left it in June of this year amid a scandal, declaring that he bore "no hard feelings" but simply did not wish to cause it harm "with his own crazy decisions."

Emzar Kvitsiani began his ascent to Georgia's political heights in a rather unconventional manner and subsequently earned a reputation as something of a court jester of the Georgian Parliament.

The fifty-nine-year-old Emzar Kvitsiani has committed a great many monstrous crimes throughout his life, in the perpetration of which family members assisted him. Exploiting the unresolved situation of Abkhazian-Georgian relations, he was for many years the sole and unchallenged ruler of the Kodori Gorge. And what is interesting is that he managed to cooperate quite successfully with both Abkhazian and Georgian military personnel alike. According to the admission of one participant in the events in the Kodori Gorge in August 2008, "without Kvitsiani's assistance, Abkhazian and Russian military personnel would have been able to accomplish very little." Our interlocutor states that Emzar Kvitsiani "over a prolonged period supplied Abkhazia's Ministry of Defense with the deployment locations of Georgian military units and provided information about the quantity of weaponry and the of military formations."

Another participant in the war — historian and Abkhazian civic figure Rismag Adjindjal — shares more detailed information about the cooperation between Kvitsiani and his circle and Abkhazia's Ministry of Defense. On Facebook he wrote the following verbatim: "From 2006, Emzar Kvitsiani began to support the Abkhazians. He himself and all his nephews came over to our side and joined the ranks of the Abkhazian army. He and his whole family helped us liberate the Kodori Gorge." "One of his nephews — presumably Bacho Argvliani, who to this day lives in Abkhazia and holds its citizenship — personally passed valuable intelligence information to the General Staff of Abkhazia's Ministry of Defense through me. And this same nephew, together with his cousins, directly participated in combat operations of the Abkhazian army," recalls Rismag Adjindjal of the Kodori events.

Much was written in the press at the time about Kvitsiani's assistance in the confrontation with the Georgian army following the events in the Kodori Gorge in August 2008. At that same time, a videocassette came into the possession of Abkhazian television — dropped by unknown persons at the door of the administration of the village of Lata — on which Emzar Kvitsiani confessed to firing on the vehicle of Georgia's Interior Minister and stated that he "had no intention of surrendering and would continue resistance if Georgia sought to resolve the conflict by military means." This recording was broadcast several times on the Abkhazian state channel.

According to some accounts, in exchange for the assistance rendered, Emzar Kvitsiani received immunity from the Abkhazian authorities — meaning that Abkhazia forgave him his numerous military and other crimes and provided him a corridor for departure to Russia, where he lived until his return to Georgia.

According to one participant in the Kodori events, Kvitsiani was more reminiscent of a highway bandit who, finding himself powerless, traded his own life and the lives of his family members for protection from Georgia. "He helped us. That is beyond dispute. But consider this: a man who, to save his own skin, betrayed his people, his country, his nation — can such a person be of use to Abkhazia or to anyone else? He is an ordinary traitor who, instead of prison, found himself seated in Parliament," believes Giorgi.

According to some views, Emzar Kvitsiani continues to cooperate with Russian military personnel to this day. And his rise to Georgia's political arena took place entirely with the help and support of the Russian authorities. It is also said that he has retained some influence in Abkhazia as well, and visits the republic quite frequently to see his nephew.

However one looks at it, the odious figure of Emzar Kvitsiani is regarded negatively in Abkhazia. This has nothing to do with the fact that he lives in Georgia, engages in politics, or pursues whatever else he may be involved in. The fact that he was a turncoat who served multiple masters simultaneously is considered contemptible in Abkhazia — even though there are still people here for whom he remains something of a "hero of the invisible front."

And in the Kodori Gorge — where Kvitsiani was for many years the sole ruler — it is now his very nephew who holds sway, apparently untouched by the political changes in the district's status. And this too is something of an idiosyncratic gesture toward Emzar Kvitsiani from the Abkhazian and Russian authorities — who continue to turn a blind eye to the lawlessness unfolding in this mountain district.

Kristina Avidzba

The text contains place names and terminology used in the self-proclaimed Republic of Abkhazia. Opinions expressed in the publication reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the editorial board.