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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Georgia charges opposition tycoon with coup plot |
| 2008-01-11 |
| Georgian prosecutors on Thursday charged one of President Mikhail Saakashvili's most powerful opponents, Badri Patarkatsishvili, with plotting a coup and attempting to organize a terrorist attack. The move, just days after Saakashvili won a presidential election the opposition said was rigged, could sideline the flamboyant tycoon from Georgian politics. He has been outside the country since November. "Arkady (Badri) Patarkatsishvili is charged with plotting a coup d'etat, organizing an attack on an official and organizing a terrorist attack," said a statement posted on the prosecutor-general's Internet site. It said a court had frozen his personal bank account in Georgia and his relatives had been informed that he had to present himself at the prosecutor's office. The West has been eyeing developments in Georgia closely. The country lies on the route of a pipeline which will soon pump 1 million barrels of Caspian Sea oil a day to world markets. A staunchly pro-Western ex-Soviet state, it is also the scene of a tussle for influence between Russia and the West. The tycoon, who sports a distinctive silver moustache and co-owns Georgia's main opposition television station with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, was a driving force behind mass protests in November against Saakashvili's rule. Patarkatsishvili left Georgia after Saakashvili ordered riot police to fire rubber bullets and tear gas at the protesters. On Thursday, one of Patarkatsishvili's advisers told Reuters the tycoon was in London. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 A Soros wannabee? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-01-11 08:47 |