Zakan Jugelia
Encyclopedia
Zakan Jugelia was a Deputy Minister for Internal Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia who was murdered 26 January 2009 in Sukhumi
.
.
Jugelia was head of the Department for Combating Economic Crimes within the Abkhazian Ministry for Internal Affair before becoming Deputy Minister for Internal Affairs in 2005.
with a Winchester rifle
while sitting on the verandah of the cafe Kiki in Sukhumi
. Around 19:45 he was brought to the Sukhumi Republican Hospital with severe wounds to his neck and the left axillary region to which he then succumbed. Witnesses reported that a masked man had left his car and shot Jugelia from point-blank range
in the back of his head.
On 30 January, Apsnypress
reported that initial investigations put forward two possible scenarios for the murder:
Earlier investigators had also said that it could not be excluded that Jugelia was murdered by a foreign power in order to hamper the government's work towards socio-economic
improvement.
Sukhumi
Sukhumi is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.-Naming:...
.
Life and career
Jugelia was a veteran of the 1992-1993 War in Abkhazia and he was a member of the veteran movement AmtsakharaAmtsakhara
Amtsakhara is an important political movement and party in Abkhazia, a de facto independent republic in Caucasus whose independence is recognized by Russia and Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru but whom most of the international community considers as a part of Georgia.Amtsakhara originally formed as an...
.
Jugelia was head of the Department for Combating Economic Crimes within the Abkhazian Ministry for Internal Affair before becoming Deputy Minister for Internal Affairs in 2005.
Murder
Jugelia was shot at 19:30 local timeTime zone
A time zone is a region on Earth that has a uniform standard time for legal, commercial, and social purposes. In order for the same clock time to always correspond to the same portion of the day as the Earth rotates , different places on the Earth need to have different clock times...
with a Winchester rifle
Winchester rifle
In common usage, Winchester rifle usually means any of the lever-action rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, though the company has also manufactured many rifles of other action types...
while sitting on the verandah of the cafe Kiki in Sukhumi
Sukhumi
Sukhumi is the capital of Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. The city suffered heavily during the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict in the early 1990s.-Naming:...
. Around 19:45 he was brought to the Sukhumi Republican Hospital with severe wounds to his neck and the left axillary region to which he then succumbed. Witnesses reported that a masked man had left his car and shot Jugelia from point-blank range
Point-blank range
In external ballistics, point-blank range is the distance between a firearm and a target of a given size such that the bullet in flight is expected to strike the target without adjusting the elevation of the firearm. The point-blank range will vary with the firearm and its particular ballistic...
in the back of his head.
On 30 January, Apsnypress
Apsnypress
Apsnypress is the state press agency of Abkhazia, an unrecognized, but de facto independent republic, considered de jure to be a part of Georgia...
reported that initial investigations put forward two possible scenarios for the murder:
- Since Jugelia was actively fighting against drug traffickingIllegal drug tradeThe illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
and corruption, it is possible that someone who was directly affected by this decided to remove him. - The murder could have been committed by criminals in order to demonstrate the weakness of the law agencies, and to create a climate profitable for their activities.
Earlier investigators had also said that it could not be excluded that Jugelia was murdered by a foreign power in order to hamper the government's work towards socio-economic
Socioeconomics
Socioeconomics or socio-economics or social economics is an umbrella term with different usages. 'Social economics' may refer broadly to the "use of economics in the study of society." More narrowly, contemporary practice considers behavioral interactions of individuals and groups through social...
improvement.