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{{Short description|Former Georgian military commander and politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Emzar Kvitsiani
| image = Emzar Kvitsiani (VOA).jpg
| caption = Kvitsiani in 2006
| native_name = ემზარ კვიციანი
| native_name_lang = ka
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1961|4|25|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Chkhalta]], [[Abkhaz ASSR]], [[Georgian SSR]], [[Soviet Union]] (now [[Abkhazia]], Georgia)
| allegiance = Georgia
| commands =
| battles = {{tree list}}
* [[Abkhaz–Georgian conflict]]
** [[War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)]]
** [[2001 Kodori crisis]]
** [[2006 Kodori crisis]]
{{tree list/end}}
}}
'''Emzar Kvitsiani''' ({{lang-ka|ემზარ კვიციანი}}, {{Audio|En-us-Emzar Kvitsiani from Georgia pronunciation (Voice of America).ogg|[ɛmzɑr kʼvitsʰiɑni]}}; born 25 April 1961) is a former [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] military commander and politician. He took part in the [[War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)]], forming a paramilitary group ''[[Monadire]]'' in the upper [[Kodori valley]], guarding it from [[Abkhazian Armed Forces|Abkhaz forces]]. He was mainly active in [[Kodori valley]], which he ran ''de facto'' through his militia from 1992 to 2006. In 1999, [[President of Georgia|President]] [[Eduard Shevardnadze]] appointed Kvitsiani to the post of President's special envoy to Kodori valley. In 2001, Kvitsiani allegedly cooperated with Chechen field commander [[Ruslan Gelayev]] in an [[2001 Kodori crisis|attempt]] to bring Abkhazia back under Georgian control. Kvitsiani opposed the [[Rose Revolution]], which subsequently led to confrontation with the Georgia's central authorities under [[Mikheil Saakashvili]]. President Sakaashvili removed him from his official government position in December 2004 and later disbanded the ''Monadire'' in April 2005. Kvitsiani declared defiance to the authorities in 2006 and was subsequently [[2006 Kodori crisis|ousted]] by the Georgian government forces. He fled to [[North Caucasus]], but, in 2014, he was arrested on his return to Georgia, initially sentenced to 16 years in jail, and then released under a plea bargain in early 2015.<ref name="RFE on release">{{cite news|last1=Fuller|first1=Liz|title=Georgian Court Releases Jailed Warlord|url=http://www.rferl.org/a/georgia-kvitsiani-russia/26818432.html|accessdate=23 October 2016|agency=Radio Free Europe|date=28 January 2015}}</ref> He was one of the leaders of the [[Alliance of Patriots of Georgia]] and a member of [[Parliament of Georgia]].<ref name="AofP Website">{{cite web|last1=Alliance of Patriots of Georgia|title=Leadership: Emzar Kvitsiani|url=http://patriots.ge/leadership-emzar-kvitsiani/|accessdate=23 October 2016|archive-date=21 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191021182850/http://patriots.ge/leadership-emzar-kvitsiani/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Career ==
Kvitsiani was born in 1961 in the village of [[Chkhalta]], part of the predominantly ethnic Georgian [[Svans|Svan]] upper Kodori valley in the then-[[Abkhaz ASSR|Soviet Abkhazia]], an [[autonomous republic]] within the [[Georgian SSR]]. He
After the [[War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)|secessionist war]] broke
Kvitsiani's role in the abduction of the [[United Nations]] and Georgian officials in Kodori in the 1990s, the [[2001 Kodori crisis]], and various supposed criminal activities in the region
After his ouster from the Kodori valley, Kvitsiani eventually fled to
== Arrest and trial ==
On 28 February
== Political engagement post-2015 ==
Kvitsiani is one of the leaders of the [[Alliance of Patriots of Georgia]], a populist party that gained six seats in the parliamentary elections in Georgia in October 2016.<ref name="AofP Website" />
In 2018, Kvitsiani proposed a law to ban the wearing of [[burqa]] and [[niqab]] in public. The parliament of Georgia considered the proposal.<ref name="dfwatch.net">{{Cite web|url=https://dfwatch.net/georgias-parliament-to-consider-a-ban-on-wearing-burqa-and-niqab-in-public-52732|title = Georgia's parliament to consider a ban on wearing burqa and niqab in public|date = 26 December 2018}}</ref> Kvitsiani has also been seen at several rallies in Tbilisi held by [[Georgian March]], a far-right, anti-LGBT and anti-immigration group.<ref name="dfwatch.net"/>
During a televised interview in April 2018, Kvitsiani said that he was forced to collaborate with Russian special services, notably with the [[GRU (Russian Federation)|GRU]]. He said that he was forced to make statements by them, although "as for statements, for me an important thing was, that they [Russian special services] would not offer me any activities, but statements meant nothing for me." He said that his family was held in Moscow and he had to make these statements to save his family.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://saqinform.ge/news/37514/kodoris+movlenebi+-+emzar+kviciani+adasturebs%2C+rom+ruseTis+specsamsaxurebis+davalebas+asrulebda.html|title=
კოდორის მოვლენები - ემზარ კვიციანი ადასტურებს, რომ რუსეთის სპეცსამსახურების დავალებას ასრულებდა|date=April 2018|website=Georgian Information Agency|access-date=3 March 2024}}</ref>
== References ==
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