Topic: Sergei Bagapsh

Sergei Uasyl-ipa Bagapsh (Abkhaz: Сергеи Уасыл-иҧа Багаҧшь; March 4, 1949 – May 29, 2011) was the second President of the Republic of Abkhazia. He was Prime Minister from 1997 to 1999 and was later elected as President in 2005. He was re-elected in the 2009 presidential election. He died on May 29, 2011, at the age of 62, from complications of surgery.

Sergei Bagapsh was born on March 4, 1949 at Sukhumi in the Georgian SSR. Throughout most of his life, he had lived in Abkhazia. In his youth, Bagapsh was a member of the Georgian basketball team. Bagapsh graduated from the Georgian State University of Subtropical Agriculture in Sukhumi. During his studies he worked first, in a wine cooperative and later as a security guard for the state bank. In 1972, he fulfilled his military service, worked as the head of a sovkhoz following which he became instructor with the Abkhazian regional committee of the Komsomol. In 1978, Bagapsh became responsible for information in the central committee of the Komsomol's Georgian branch and in 1980, first secretary of the Abkhazian regional committee. In 1982, Sergei Bagapsh became secretary general of the communist party in the Ochamchira district. After the fall of communism, Bagapsh became a businessman and the representative of the Abkhazian government in Moscow.

Sergei Bagapsh was appointed to the office of Prime Minister of Abkhazia on April 29, 1997