11 February 2011
Abkhazian Deputy and statesman Vladimir Emin-ipa Nachach passes away
On Tuesday the 8th, Vladimir Emin-ipa Nachach passed away. He had been one of the most valuable members of the People's Assembly since he was first elected in 2002. A trained Lawyer and a veteran from the 1992-1993 war with Georgia, Nachach had headed the Committee on Legislation, Judicial and Legal Reform and State Building, initiating a large amount of legislation.
While Nachach was not one of the best-known Abkhazian politicians internationally, he played an important role between 2002 and 2004, the last years of Vladislav Ardzinba's presidency. Nachach was co-chairman of Amtsakhara (then in the opposition), and he led legislative attempts to impeach Ardzinba, to reform election law and to prevent the falsification of the 2004 Presidential election. In the years following the victory of his ally Sergei Bagapsh, Nachach became the principal legal expert of Abkhazia.
Nachach is the third Deputy of the fourth convocation of the People's Assembly to die in office, after Omar Kvarchia and Yuri Kereselidze. The Assembly only has 35 members — a proportionally similar misfortune would require the death of 55 members of the British House of Commons.