Georgia has detained four men on suspicion of plotting to assassinate the president, and authorities on Friday accused the autonomous province of Adzharia of sending the hard boyz being behind the alleged plot. The Adzharian leader rejected the accusation.
| "Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!" |
Deputy state security minister Gigi Ugulava said the arrests were made over nine days beginning March 23 and that two other suspects are at large and believed to be in the Adzharian capital, Batumi. Ugulava said the men were working under the direction of Adzharian security minister Soso Gogitidze, his deputy Gogi Kupreishvili and other provincial officials. "This fact has been confirmed in detail by use of Soviet-style torture so that the confessions are completely unreliable," he told journalists. It was not clear if Georgian authorities would attempt to arrest the Adzharian officials.
| They're going to have to shovel out Adzharia eventually... |
The province's border guards last month blocked Saakashvili from entering the region. Saakashvili imposed economic sanctions, which were lifted after Abashidze agreed to concessions including backing off repression of opposition groups and allowing free parliamentary elections. However, there were extensive complaints of violations in Adzharia in Sunday's election, and Georgia's elections commission on Friday annulled the results from two of the province's six districts, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Abashidze rejected allegations of an Adzharian-led assassination plot. "The absurdity of these statements is completely obvious, and it is not the first time we have heard such things from Tbilisi," he was quoted as telling the Interfax news agency. He added that Adzharia would not negotiate with Tbilisi amid threats. "Negotiations and threats cannot be used simultaneously," ITAR-Tass quoted him as saying.
| Sure they can, works much better that way. |
Saakashvili has said he is determined to rein in Adzharia without using force. On Friday he said that "we are ready to begin working with the Adzharian authorities on defining the functions of the central and regional authorities," according to Interfax. A day earlier, he announced that Georgian military units, including some stationed in Adzharia, would conduct an exercise practicing evacuation of a large civilian area. The exercise is to take place this month in Poti, about 20 miles north of Adzharia.
| "We're just ... practicing. You know, just in case." |
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