The Abkhaz public organization “Aruaa”, which unites the opposition-minded part of the veterans of the Georgian-Abkhaz war of 1992-93, is outraged that the Prime Minister of the republic, Alexander Ankvab, was awarded the Highest State Order “Akhdz-Apsha” (“Honor and Glory”). According to veterans, Ankvab is not worthy of this high award, since during the war he sold weapons to the Georgian side. Aruaa tried to challenge the award decision in court, but to no avail.
President Aslan Bzhaniya awarded Alexander Ankvab last December in honor of his 70th birthday. The Aruaa organization made a special statement demanding that the presidential decree on the award be cancelled.
The main claim of veterans to Alexander Ankvab is connected with the fact that at the beginning of the Georgian-Abkhazian war Ankvab, who was the Minister of Internal Affairs at that time, handed over the weapons stored in the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Georgians. In 1994, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Abkhazia opened a criminal case on this fact, but it never reached the court.
“The Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case against Ankvab on the fact of the transfer of weapons from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the State Security Committee, which was headed by Avtondil Ioseliani. That is, in fact, the weapons that the Abkhaz militia needed were handed over to the Georgians. These are not unfounded statements. We have at our disposal the response of the prosecutor’s office, indicating that this criminal case was initiated and has not yet been closed,” Timur Gulia, the head of Aruaa, said in court.
Gulia believes that the Akhdz Apsha order should be awarded to people with an impeccable reputation and biography. And the personality of Alexander Ankvab “does not correspond to the parameters that fit the holder of the Akhdz Apsha order.”
In addition to the moral aspect, the claims voiced in Aruaa’s statement of claim also relate to the awarding procedure, which, according to veterans, was carried out in violation of the rules prescribed in the law “On state awards of the Republic of Abkhazia.” President Aslan Bzhania made the decision to award the award on his own, and the Presidential Commission on Awards did not consider this issue.
But despite all the arguments of the veteran organization, the Cassation Board of the Supreme Court confirmed the decision of the court of first instance, leaving the award in force.
