Victim lawyers of massive repressions of the Soviet regime from Adjara

Abstract

Lawyers perform essential functions in the state and society, they held and still hold various leadership positions, it is possible that lawyers, as one of the main targets of the repressions of the Soviet regime, derives from the role they play in the implementation of state authority: legislation of public relations, creation of developed legal system and so forth.

The political repressions carried out by the Soviet regime, which affected almost all classes of society in Adjara: government agencies, state authority, the Communist Party, public organizations, intellectuals, clergy, agricultural and industrial personnel, and so on, was unprecedented with their nature, extent, forms and methods. Unlike other Soviet republics, the repressions carried out by the Soviet regime in Georgia had a larger scale and acute character. These repressions in Adjara, compared to other regions of Georgia, were  more brutal. This was due to the fact that the leaders of the Soviet Union and the Soviet government of Georgia misused the bad luck of Adjara caused by the consequences of three centuries of Ottoman rule and showed unreasonable mistrust towards Adjarian people, doubted their political reliability and often accused them of spying for Turkey.

The article covers the activities of the repressed lawyers working in Adjara at the beginning of the 20th century who were shot on the basis of fabricated charges: Rezheb Nizharadze (1873-1937), Khasan Lortkiphanidze (1888-1937), Osman Tavdgiridze (1889-1938), Dursun Kartsivadze (1865-1937), Osman Mikeladze (1894-1937), Temur-Beg Shervashidze (1884-1937), Memed Kaikatsishvili (1898-1937), Riza Davitadze (1864-1937). Their merit is indicated in front of the region, the nation, the country, the immortalization of their memory, so that our future is even more protected from the unjust use of force by the state.