Background
Dzapshba was born on 1 January 1961 in the village of Barmysh, Gudauta District.
Dzapshba was born on 1 January 1961 in the village of Barmysh, Gudauta District.
He attended high school in Bambora and graduated in 1975. He then studied at the police school in Cheboksary until 1993, when he entered the police department in Tomsk, serving in different positions until 1991.
From 1979 until 1981, Dzapshba served in the Soviet Army. In 1991, Dzapshba returned to Abkhazia. Between 1991 and October 1993, Dzapshba held various positions within the Interior Ministry.
In October 1993, he became Deputy Minister.
On 10 July 1996, Dzapshba was appointed Deputy Head of Abkhazia"s Security Service. In 2002, he was appointed First Deputy Minister for Taxes and Levies.
In 2007, Dzapshba additionally became President of the Abkhazian Football Federation. On 12 August 2010, Otar Khetsia was dismissed as Minister for Internal Affairs of Abkhazia and subsequently (on 18 August) appointed Secretary of the State Security Council.
Khetsia was temporarily succeeded by First Deputy Minister Ramin Gablaia, until on 22 September Leonid Dzapshba was made the new Interior Minister.
On 20 October 2011, after Alexander Ankvab became President following the sudden death of Sergei Bagapsh, he once again replaced Dzapshba as Interior Minister by Othar Khetsia. On 25 June 2012, Dzapshba was indicted for the embezzlement of 7,832,368 rubles while he was head of the Abkhazian Football Federation. In reply, the Prosecutor General"s office released a statement on 9 July.
lieutenant alleged that Dzapshba had abused funds to buy cars for himself and for family, and to travel to Russia and Europe, supposedly to meet Fédération internationale de football association President Sepp Blatter and Union of European Football Associations President Michel Platini.
On 12 July, Dzapsha held a press conference, supported by Sergei Shamba, who had been Prime Minister at the time of the supposed acts of malpractice. Dzapshba denied the accusations of the Prosecutor" General’ s Office, stating that he had in fact met Blatter and Platini, as evidenced by a letter of thanks written by President Bagapsh.
In addition, Dzapshba asserted that the 7 million ruble deficit had arisen in the construction of football pitches, and that he had received permission from President Bagapsh to cover the shortfall with government funds, but that this was thwarted by Bagapsh"s death. On the same day, a group of relatives of Dzapshba also sent an open letter addressed to President Ankvab.
Dzapshba unsuccessfully participated in the with running mate Boris Abitov, scoring a 3.4% fourth place.
The pair had been nominated by an initiative group on 27 June. Dzapshba"s campaign manager was former Chairman of the State Committee for Youth Affairs and Sports Rafael Ampar. His candidate for the post of Prime Minister was former Foreign Affairs Minister Maxim Gvinjia.
On 9 October 2015, President Raul Khajimba dismissed Interior Minister Khagba, and appointed Dzapshba to the post again.
On 3 July, Dzapshba defended himself in an interview with the newspaper Nuzhnaya.