Former 1990s war veteran wounded in Tbilisi

The former colonel Dodo Gugeshashvili of the now-disbanded Mkhedrioni military formation was shot in her home along with her son in Tbilisi’s Dighomi district.

While Dodo Gugeshashvili survived, her son, Nodar Gugeshashvili, was killed in the attack. His body was taken by authorities for examination. Dodo is being operated on in the Gudushauri National Medical Center as she has received bullet wounds near her heart. Criminal investigators are working on the scene of the shooting.

Little is currently known about the attacker. Interpressnews reported that Dodo Gugeshashvili claimed that her attacker was an acquaintance.

A criminal investigation has been opened under articles 108 and 19-109 of the criminal code of Georgia, which entail premeditated homicide and attempted murder under aggravating circumstances.

•   Dodo Gugeshashvili was considered one of the leaders of a military formation known as Mkhedrioni in the 1990s. She was close to Jaba Ioseliani, who was a political, military and criminal figure and leader of the Mkhedrioni group. After Gamsakhurdia fled from office, he became a member of the military council of Georgia.

•   Mkhedrioni was formed in 1989. In 1991, under the leadership of Jaba Ioseliani, it was one of the main forces which lead to the coup attempt against the then-president Zviad Gamsakhurdia. The organisation also participated in the Abkhazian war. In 1995, Mkhedrioni was banned. In 2001, the Alliance of Patriots (the organisation that followed in its place) was banned from registering as a political party.

•  Gugeshashvili was in the organisation as a colonel, and is an Abkhaz war veteran. In recent years, after Mkhedrioni was disbanded, Dodo Gugeshashvili rarely appeared on television and has not participated in the civic-political life of the country.