(AINA) -- Boris Emmanuel Ivanov was born on October 14th, 1943. He was born and raised in Tbilisi, Georgia. His father, Emmanuel Ivanov, was born in 1923 in Tbilisi, Georgia. His father's side of the family came from Iran. Boris's mother, Sara Ivanova, was born in Tbilisi in 1925; her parents were from Turkey. Sara died in 1996. Boris has two sisters and two brothers. One brother passed away last year at the age of 59. Boris is widowed; his wife of 38 years died last year as a result of cancer. Boris has two daughters, one son and two grandchildren.

After finishing high school, Boris entered Police academy. He started his professional career as a criminal police officer. Then he became a chief of criminal police of one district in Tbilisi. Later he was promoted to the chief of police of the city of Tbilisi. After many courageous operations and years of hard work Boris was given a title of a general of military police. Boris also worked in a Department of Internal Affairs of Georgia. One of his tasks was to uncover the kidnappers' ring that were taking hostages and demanding ransom for their release. The kidnappers were members of the Georgian military forces. They were caught and disarmed. After the criminals were arrested, the wrongfully accused and imprisoned were released. After this event Boris's popularity increased and he became a prototype of one of the main characters of the story called "There is no way back"written by a Russian novelist. Boris was referred as a hero by Georgian people.

In 1992 he was transferred to Department of Defense of Georgia, were he was promoted to a Chief of Military Police of Georgia and became a general. During the war in Abkhazia (a regon of Georgia) Boris was in charge of many military operations. He was one of the last officers who left Abkhazia. He stayed there with his solders and walked to Georgia via Kodory Canyon.

Later on, Boris was trying to prevent illegal arm shipment from Georgia to other countries of the former Soviet Union. Although Boris Ivanov acted on behalf of Georgian government some elements in this government were able to continue illegal arm trade. These people became his enemies and used any opportunity to discredit his name.

After clearing his name, in 1995 Boris and his family moved to Moscow. He worked as a Chief of Police of North- Eastern District of Moscow and then worked in the Prosecution. After couple of years Boris retired as his health started to deteriorate. He was diagnosed with diabetes and hypertension.

Boris traveled to Georgia once or twice a year to visit his father and the rest of the family that still resides there. That's the reason why he came to Georgia this time. Boris came to Georgia in the middle of July for a family reunion. His sister and her daughters, whom he did not see for 10 years, came from United States. On the morning of July 27th neighbors noticed many strangers walking in the neighborhood near Boris's house. His neighbors warned Boris of the ongoing suspicious activity. His response, however, was that he had nothing to worry about because he was innocent. Soon after a group of armed special forces police officers broke into his house, kicked out whoever was at his house at the moment, locked the gate, rounded him off and planted a small bag of unknown substance in his pocket. Several neighbors witnessed this from the windows of the adjacent house. A lot of people gathered outside Boris's house trying to break the gates and get inside. Unable to get inside the house through the gate they had to break the window to get in. Somebody called the news channel, so the reporters arrived on the scene and video recorded the arrest that was aired on various TV channels.

At the time of his arrest police didn't have warrant for arrest or search warrant. When he was taken out of his house he managed to shout to his neighbors to lock the doors of his house and not let anybody in. One of the neighbors locked the door and hid the keys. Neighbors protested against police searching the house without an attorney. After the attorney arrived police officers started to search the house with witnesses being present. Police didn't find anything in his house and left after many hours of searching. While police was searching the house the neighborhood children poked tires of the police cars as a form of protest. Boris was taken to an insulation ward.

Two days later he was charged with possession of narcotics during preliminary court appearance. Boris testified and gave a speech regarding unjust nature of his arrest. During the court procedure Boris said that he had attended a press conference conducted by a former Chief of KGB of Georgia in Moscow, Mr. Giorgadze. He stayed for a little while and left soon after. Maybe that was a reason of his arrest? Or maybe it was a phone call made from his house to Kvitsiani's nephew who at the time was in charge of the stand off in Kodory Canyon. In his speech he named the person who made the phone call. Even though the phone call was made it never went through. It was not Boris who made the phone call; it was his friend's acquaintance whom Boris had never seen before.

The arrest of Boris Ivanov shocked not only people of Georgia (Assyrians and members of other ethnic groups) but also members of Assyrian Diaspora all over the World. A lot of people (over 1000) expressed their solidarity by sending their signatures on atranews.com web side. Boris Ivanov's relatives in Georgia receive many phone calls from Georgian people who love and respect Boris and are very concerned about his wellbeing. Ivanov's life, as recalled by members of his community, is abundant with countless stories of his altruism and generosity. He is remembered as a citizen who dedicated his entire life fighting crime and battling drug trade. People are waiting for just and fair resolution of this case.

While his love to Georgia makes him a true Georgian he is also an Assyrian. Since 1991, Mr. Ivanov has been a distinguished honorary member of the Assyrian Universal Alliance headed by the U.S. Senator John Nimrod. He is also a member of the Assyrian National Council of Illinois. Mr. Ivanov was the founder of the Assyrian International Congress of Georgia and for many years he was the President of this Assyrian organization.