Davit Kezerashvili

Davit Kezerashvili დავით კეზერაშვილი
Minister of Defense of Georgia
In office November 10, 2006 – December 5, 2008
Preceded by	Irakli Okruashvili
Succeeded by	Vasil Sikharulidze
Personal details
Born	September 22, 1978 Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, USSR
Political party	National Movement - Democrats

Davit Kezerashvili (Georgian: დავით კეზერაშვილი) (born September 22, 1978) is a Georgian politician, who from November 10, 2006 to December 5, 2008 was the country's Minister of Defense.

Kezerashvili was born in Tbilisi to a Jewish family. After migrating to Russia, he went to Israel in 1992, where he lived with his grandmother in the Kiryat Ben-Gurion neighborhood of Holon and attended high school. After a year and a half, he left Israel and returned to Georgia. He studied law and international relations at Tbilisi State University.

After working in the Justice Ministry he became an assistant to Mikheil Saakashvili, then the Minister for Justice.

Kezerashvili then worked in the Finance Ministry from 2004 until November 2006, including a role as chair of the financial police force. On November 11, 2006, he was appointed as Georgian Defense Minister, replacing Irakli Okruashvili. He was dismissed from this post amid criticisms over the Georgia-Russia war on December 5, 2008.

Kezerashvili is a founding member of the liberal United National Movement, and contested an election in 2002 under their banner. He is also a close personal ally of the party's leader, Georgian President Saakashvili.

Shalva Natelashvili of the Georgian Labour Party criticized Kezerashvili's appointment, arguing that he "has never served in the army... doesn't even have the title of sergeant and has no clue about the armed forces."As chief of the financial police, Kezerashvili received criticism for heavy-handed tactics in raiding businesses.

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