David Devdariani () (November 17, 1927 – June 13, 2006) was a Professor of

Jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

and Head of Law Faculty at

Georgian Technical University Georgian Technical University (GTU, formerly V.I. Lenin Georgian Polytechnical Institute) is the main and largest technical university of Georgia. It is located in the capital city of Tbilisi. History Georgian Technical University was founded ...

. He was the son of the famous

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

revolutionary Gaioz Devdariani who was executed during the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secret ...

in 1938 by orders of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

. David was born in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and attended the

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

gymnasium in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. In 1950, just before applying for university studies in Tbilisi, he was arrested by

MVD The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (MVD; russian: Министерство внутренних дел (МВД), ''Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del'') is the interior ministry of Russia. The MVD is responsible for law enfor ...

(former

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

) for being “the son of the enemy of the people” (Russian: "сын врага народа") and charged with Article 58 of counter-revolutionary activities. In

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

operated jail Devdariani suffered a great ordeal of which effects lasted throughout his life.Areshidze, Giorgi, “Crimes of Soviet KGB in Georgia,” Nezavisimaya Gruziya, Georgia 5 December 1992, p 9 While imprisoned Devdariani began a

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 20th ...

activities for Independence of Georgia from

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. In 1956 after condemnation of Stalinism in USSR, Devdariani was released by the orders of

Nikita Khrushchev Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev (– 11 September 1971) was the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964 and chairman of the country's Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. During his rule, Khrushchev s ...

( General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union). Soon after his release Devdariani enrolled in the Tbilisi State University and graduated with honours from the Faculty of Law. In the 1970s, he became the Head of the Faculty of Law and Jurisprudence at Georgian Polytechnic University and lived with his sister Medea Devdariani. During the

pro-independence movement Throughout the history of Puerto Rico, its inhabitants have initiated several movements to obtain independence for the island, first from the Spanish Empire from 1493 to 1898 and since then from the United States. A spectrum of pro- autonomy, ...

in Tbilisi in 1989, Devdariani was involved in various demonstrations and activities for the support of Georgian independence. In 1992-1993, he began petitioning and working for the peaceful conflict settlement in Georgia’s breakaway region of Abkhazia. Devdariani wrote numerous appeals and letters to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

, heads of G8 and introduced his reform proposal of

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...

. Devdariani published numerous books and articles on Law, United Nations reforms and Conflictology. In 2001, Devdariani was awarded Order of Honor (Honor Medal is awarded to Georgian citizens who actively participated in the revival of Georgia and devoted themselves to noble deeds) by the President of Georgia Edward Shevardnadze for his contributions for the study of Jurisprudence and raising the awareness about the tragedy in Abkhazia. In 2005, he published the book: "''The Oath Book of the 21st Century''," which contained propositions and recommendations for the reformation of UN and the peaceful settlements of Post-Soviet conflicts. David Devdariani died in Tbilisi on June 13, 2006 from cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devdariani, David Soviet dissidents Dissidents from Georgia (country) Politicians from Georgia (country) 1927 births 2006 deaths Prisoners and detainees from Georgia (country) Prisoners and detainees of the Soviet Union Deaths from cancer in Georgia (country) Academic staff of Georgian Technical University Recipients of the Order of Honor (Georgia)

See also

References