on 18 november 1983, seven young people, all sons of georgian intellectual elite families – attempted to flee the soviet union by hijacking an airliner of the state-run aeroflot company. among the hijackers were the painters gia tabidze, davit mikaberidze, and soso tsereteli, the actor gega kobakhidze (who had just been selected to play a role in tengiz abuladze's subsequently famous film "repentance"), and the physicians paata and kakhi iverieli. they pretended to be a wedding party, boarded the airliner in tbilisi, and tried to divert it to turkey. there were 57 passengers and seven crew members on board.