Otar Mikhailovich Khetsia (Russian: Отар Михайлович Хеция; born 19 February[citation needed] 1965) has twice been Minister of Internal Affairs of Abkhazia.
Otar Khetsia was first appointed Interior Minister after the election of President Sergei Bagapsh in 2005.
[1][2][3] After the election of President Alexander Ankvab following the sudden death of Bagapsh, Khetsia was again appointed as Interior Minister on 20 October 2011.
[4] Following the resignation of Alexander Ankvab as a result of the 2014 Abkhazian Revolution, Khetsia went on paid leave, and on 9 June Raul Lolua, Head of the State Security Service's Special Forces Centre, was appointed First Deputy Minister to carry out his duties.
[6] In the run-up to the 2016 presidential recall referendum, Khetsia co-signed an appeal with Lolua and his predecessor Abesalom Beia to President Raul Khajimba to dismiss then Interior Minister Leonid Dzapshba over a speech he had given to officials at the Ministry that angered opposition activists, who claimed Dzapshba had pressured the officials not to participate in the referendum and threatened them with dismissal.