Assassination attempts on Alexander Ankvab

Alexander Ankvab, who was a President of Abkhazia from 2011 to 2014, has survived six assassination attempts since becoming Prime Minister in 2005.

Two weeks after having been appointed Prime Minister, Alexander Ankvab's car was fired upon in the evening of 28 February 2005. The car was reportedly hit by 17 bullets, but Ankvab was not harmed as he was traveling in the car of his Vice-Premier Leonid Lakerbaia. No injuries were reported. Newly elected President Sergei Bagapsh blamed the attack on "criminal elements" opposed to reform "who do not want to live in accordance to the law”. On 1 March, Ankvab ordered Interior Minister Otar Khetsia to crack down on criminal gangs, blaming the assassination attempt on people discontent with his decision to raise the taxes on the export of scrap metal.

On 1 April, Ankvab's car was attacked again, near Sukhumi. Neither he nor Vice-Premier Lakerbaia was injured, but their driver was. The next day, the Interior Ministry offered a reward of 5000 dollars for information that would lead to the capture of the perpetrators. Interior Minister Otar Khetsia, declared that "the same forces" that had been behind the assassination attempt on 28 February were responsible . Head of the criminal investigation Jamal Gogia announced on 7 April that his team was considering three possible backgrounds for the organisers of the attack: corrupt businessmen unhappy with tighter government control, criminals dissatisfied with the announced step-up in crime fighting and the Georgian or some other special service wanting to destabilise Abkhazia.

On 20 June, during a remote-control bomb detonated during a thunderstorm near New Athos. On 27 June, a group of academics, writers and journalists released a statement in which they claimed that it was generally known the bomb had been aimed at Alexander Ankvab and that it was immoral and dangerous to keep silent about it.

On July 9, 2007, Ankvab and his driver were lightly injured when the back of their vehicle was fired upon from a grenade cup discharger near Gudauta, on the road to Sukhumi. Ankvab stated that he had suffered a concussion and several shrapnel wounds to the back. President Bagapsh cut short a visit to Moscow after the attack. He blamed people opposed to reforms and the fight against organised crime for the attack, and added on 10 July that the attack was political in nature and not a settling of scores between criminals. He warned the leadership of the law enforcement agencies that they would be fired if results were not obtained within two weeks, and stated that the attack was a logical result of the agencies' failure to resolve the previous assassination attempts. The People's Assembly of Abkhazia called upon the government to timely investigate the attack and accused "destructive forces active both inside and outside Abkhazia" of trying to destabilize the situation in Abkhazia. The Interior Ministry proclaimed a 500,000-ruble reward for information leading to the capture of the attackers. Georgian MP Konstantine Gabashvili accused the Russian special services of trying to get rid of Ankvab, allegedly because he had suggested reexamining all illegal real estate transactions in Abkhazia, including those involving Russian companies.

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Wikipedia