Abkhazia Gov’t head pays tribute to memory of Zhiuli Shartava

Giorgi Jincharadze, the head of the government of Abkhazia's autonomous republic, on Saturday honoured the memory of Georgia’s National Hero Zhiuli Shartava at Vake Pantheon, laying flowers at his grave.

On September 27, 1993, the day Sokhumi fell, Russian forces and Abkhaz separatists executed Shartava - then Chair of the Supreme Council of Abkhazia - along with Guram Gabeskiria and Raul Eshba, who, like him, refused to abandon the city. They were shot in front of the government building together with around 30 other Georgians. Aleksandre Berulava went missing without a trace.

On the same day of remembrance, members of the Abkhazian government-in-exile also paid tribute to other national heroes, laying flowers at the graves of Guram Gabeskiria, Geno Adamia, Mamia Alasania, and Tamaz Nadareishvili, the former chair of Abkhazia’s Supreme Council in exile.