(Tbilisi, January 8, 2003. Civil Georgia) – Badri Zarandia, former political prisoner, and leader of the armed paramilitary group in the region of Samegrelo, was shot dead today in a town of Zugdidi, while dining in a cafe, news agencies report.
Zarandia was sentenced to death by the Georgian Supreme Court on 17 June 1996. A former commander of the western town of Zugdidi when it was controlled by the troops of the late president Gamsakhurdia , he was arrested on 20 October 1994 and sentenced to death for treason and banditry in connection with the 1993 uprising. Zarandia wa included in a political prisoners’ list by the Amnesty International. The Supreme Court has changed the death sentence with 15 years imprisonment in January 1997. He was pardoned by the presidential decree and released on April 20-21, 2000.
Recently Zarandia has entered into alliance with his former arch-enemy from the paramilitary Mkhedrioni group Jaba Ioseliani to form a “Combatants Union” in opposition to Shevardnadze. During the June 2, 2002 local elections Zarandia’s armed supporters violently rallied the voting stations in Zugdidi. As a result elections were cancelled.
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