shartava was born on march 7, 1944 in sukhumi, abkhaz assr. an engineer by education, he was elected to the parliament of georgia in 1992. shartava chaired the legal council of ministers and the council of self-defence of autonomous republic of abkhazia during the georgian-abkhazian war in 1993. when the city of sukhumi fell to the russian-supported separatist forces on september 27, 1993, shartava with other members of the abkhaz government (guram gabiskiria, raul eshba, alexander berulava, mamia alasania, sumbat saakian, misha kokaia and others) refused to flee and were captured by the abkhaz militants. initially they were promised safety, however shartava and others from the council of ministers were killed by the militants and according to un report shartava was excessively tortured.