Jaba Ioseliani, a Georgian ex-warlord who helped bring President Eduard Shevardnadze to power in a coup but was then imprisoned for attempting to assassinate him, died on Tuesday. Georgian television reported that Ioseliani, 77, never recovered from a stroke he suffered a week ago.
G'bye, Jaba. Don't come back.
In the early 1990s, the former bank robber headed a ragged nationalist militia in the former Soviet republic. He was a key figure in the violent local politics, and in the 1992 coup which brought Shevardnadze to power. Ioseliani was then imprisoned for his alleged role in a 1995 attempt on Shevardnadze's life. He never got back into politics after being released under an amnesty in 2000.
Jaba and his "Mkhedrioni" (Horsemen) overthrew Zviad Gamsakhurdia, the self-styled "Saddam Hussein of the Caucasus," who was something of a study in megalomania. Jaba had the opportunity to be a national hero, but never managed to be anything better than a glorified crook. |