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== 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 studied agronomy in Russia.<ref name="Marten">{{cite book|last=Marten|first=Kimberly|title=Warlords: Strong-arm Brokers in Weak States|date=2012|publisher=Cornell University Press|isbn=0801464587|pages=88–99}}</ref><ref name=lenta>{{cite news|script-title=ru:Квициани, Эмзар|url=http://lenta.ru/lib/14163606/#19|accessdate=1 March 2014|agency=Lenta.ru|language=Russian|trans_title=Kvitsiani, Emzar}}</ref> According to the uncorroborated reports in the Russian press, he had a criminal record during the Soviet period.<ref name=rferl2014>{{cite news|last1=Fuller|first1=Liz|title=Supporters Demand Release Of Jailed Former Georgian Warlord|url=http://www.rferl.org/content/caucasus-report-kvitsiani-supporters-demand-release/26705388.html|accessdate=23 November 2014|agency=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=22 November 2014}}</ref> A detailed academic study claims he developed contacts to Soviet organized crime while in jail, and that after his release he was involved in running illegal casinos in Abkhazia.<ref name="MartenBook">{{cite book|last1=Marten|first1=Kimberly|title=Warlords: Strom-Arm Brokers in Weak States|date=2012|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, NY|page=88}}</ref>
After the [[War in Abkhazia (1992–1993)|secessionist war]] broke up in Abkhazia in 1992, Kvitsiani organized a militia force of several hundred fighters named ''Monadire'' ("the Hunter") in the upper Kodori valley in order to fend off the Abkhaz threat. He succeeding in keeping the valley under the control of his militia after the retreat of the Georgian forces from Abkhazia in 1993 and maintained nominal dependence on the central government of Georgia. The then-[[President of Georgia]] [[Eduard Shevardnadze]] attempted to channel Kvitsiani's activities into the legal framework of the Georgian state apparatus. Kvitsiani was appointed deputy special state envoy to the Kodori valley in 1997 and then special state envoy to that area in 2000. In 1998, his militia was made a special battalion of the [[Georgian Armed Forces]], but the government had little control of it.<ref name=civil26993>{{cite news|title=Wanted Ex-Warlord Arrested on Arrival in Tbilisi|url=http://civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=26993|accessdate=1 March 2014|newspaper=[[Civil Georgia]]|date=28 February 2014}}</ref><ref name=lenta/>
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After his ouster from the Kodori valley, Kvitsiani eventually fled to Russia, from where he issued threats of guerrilla warfare to the Georgian government.<ref name="Marten"/> He remained wanted by Georgia for charges related to formation of an illegal armed group and an armed mutiny.<ref name=civil26993/> His sister, Nora Kvitsiani, was arrested on similar charges and sentenced 6.5 years in prison, but she was released after the change of government in Georgia in October 2012.<ref name=lenta/>
== Arrest and trial ==
On February 28, 2014, Kvitsiani,<ref>{{cite news|last=Kirtzkhalia|first=Nana|title=Former representative of Georgian president in Kodori gorge to return homeland|url=http://en.trend.az/regions/scaucasus/georgia/2246762.html|accessdate=March 3, 2014|date=February 27, 2014|agency=Trend News}}</ref> flew from [[Moscow]] to Tbilisi, where he was arrested upon his arrival at the [[Tbilisi International Airport]]. He declared he knew the authorities were going to arrest him, but he wanted to cooperate and seek justice.<ref name=civil26993/> On November 17, 2014, a court in the west Georgian town of [[Zugdidi]] found Kvitsiani guilty of mutiny and of forming an illegal armed group—charges Kvitsiani denied.<ref name=rferl2014/> He was sentenced to 16 years in jail, but released after the [[Kutaisi]] court of appeals approved a plea bargain deal between him and the prosecution on January 28, 2015.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ex-Warlord Released from Jail in Plea Deal|url=http://civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=28008|accessdate=28 January 2015|work=Civil Georgia|date=28 January 2015}}</ref>
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