President of the Republic of Georgia. Zviad Gamsakhurdia was democratically elected in the Post-Soviet Union era as the first President of the Republic of Georgia. He served from April 14, 1991 to January 6, 1992, a brief nine-month term. Besides being a politician, he is recognized as a dissident, scholar, and an author. He became a scholar of Shota Rustaveli, a medieval Georgian poet. Born the son of noted author, Konstantine Gamsakhurdia, his early education was at home before graduating from the faculty of West European languages at Tbilisi State University. Following his father's interest, he became a senior research fellow of the Institute of Georgian Literature of the Georgian Academy of Sciences from 1973 to 1977 and 1985 to 1990, associate professor of the Tbilisi State University from 1973 to 1975 and 1985 to 1990 and member of the Union of Georgia's Writers 1966 to 1977 from 1985 to 1991. He earned a PhD in the field of Philology in 1973. In 1991 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Georgian Academy of Sciences for his book "The Language of the Forms of the Knight in a Lordly Skin." During most of his early life, the Georgian culture was forcefully inhibited by the Communist regime of Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union. In 1955 as a dissident, he founded a youth underground group which he called the Gorgasliani, who monitored the abuse of human rights. This led to his arrest in 1956 while demonstrating against the Soviet policies and again in 1958 for distribution of anti-communist literature. For political purposes, he was labeled as a person with psychiatric problems, resulting in being confined to a mental hospital for six months. He gained wider prominence in 1972 during a campaign against the corruption associated with the appointment in the Georgian Orthodox Church. Appealing to the United Nations, he co-founded the Georgian Action Group for the Defense of Human Rights. He became very active in an underground group that distributed human rights literature, which he often wrote, and became the first Georgian member of the International Society for Human Rights. On April 7, 1977 Eduard Shevardnadze of the Georgian Communist Party arrested him. Since he had gained recognition for his human right activities, his trial was highly covered by the international media. He was found guilty and after his appeal was rejected, sentenced to three years in penal colony plus a three-year exile in Siberia for "anti-Soviet activities". After a coerced "confession" that was televised, he was release from the prison in 1979, but returned to his dissident behavior. Besides published "Dilemma for Humanity" in early 1977, he published a number of important Georgian literary works such as political pieces and collections of poetry. In addition, he translated into the Georgian language copies of noted British, French and American literature. He translated from Georgian to English Rustaveli's poem "The Man in the Panther's Skin." After the post-Soviet Union Era, he entered politics by leading a coalition called the Round Table to victory in parliamentary elections in October of 1990. He served as Chairperson of the Parliament of Georgia from November 14, 1990 until his election to the office of President on April 14, 1991 with an overwhelming 87 per cent of the popular vote. With little experience in political leadership, he was the head of a new nation facing many problems: Georgia contained many different non-Georgian minority groups, who complained of misrepresentation in the government with only nine of 245 deputies being non-Georgians, while another group wanted monoethnic Georgia. He inherited a nation with major economic and political difficulties. His policies alienated his supporters, causing many to resign their post and leading to a coup d'état in late 1991, destroying property and killing hundreds of citizens. He was accused of being a dictator and human civil rights abuser. In January of 1992 he was replaced by the Military Council, which subsequently gave power without an election to the State Council headed by his rivalry, Eduard Shevardnadze. He never resigned as President, but went into exile and was recognized by many countries as the President of Georgia in exile. First, he escaped to Armenia in January in 1992 and later went to Finland and then Austria. There were several rallies of his supporters in attempt to have him return to Georgia as the elected President, but the trained militia caused arrests and harassment of Gamsakhurdia supporters, who had little military training resulting in many deaths. Russian troops were in charged by October of 1993. Although the circumstances around his death remain a mystery, he died from a gunshot wound. Shortly after his death on December 31, 1993 , he was buried in western Georgia. Later, his widow re-interred him in Chechnya. Gamsakhurdia's remains were re-buried for a third time in the Chechen capital on February 17, 1994. At the request of the President of the Republic of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili on March 3, 2007, his remains were located, professionally identified, and returned to Georgia. Later, his remains were reinterred in Mtatsminda pantheon in Tbilisi with full honors. His remains were buried four times. He is credited as dying while being President of Georgia. Posthumously, his political career, although not perfect, has been recognized as honorable and being the first elected President of the Republic of Georgia. In 2013, he was posthumously awarded the title and Order of National Hero of Georgia. He was married twice and had three sons. His second wife, Dr. Manana Archvadze-Gamsakhurdia , a pediatrician, was the First Lady of the Republic of Georgia. His only son from his first marriage, Konstantine "Koko" Gamsakhurdia, wrote his 1995 biography, "Zviad Gamsakhurdia; Dissident - President – Martyrs;" was elected to the Georgia parliament in 2008;" and chair of the parliamentary commission investigating the unsolved death of Zviad Gamsakhurdia.