GEORGIA: Court verdict expected in trial of man accused of throwing a grenade at Bush during his visit to Georgia

Record ID: 643463

  • Title: GEORGIA: Court verdict expected in trial of man accused of throwing a grenade at Bush during his visit to Georgia
  • Date: 11th January 2006
  • Summary: WIDE OF THE COURTHOUSE
  • Embargoed: 26th January 2006 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Georgia
  • Country: Georgia
  • Reuters ID: LVAAXS9KG9YGWSS8ID07R6251ILG
  • Story Text: The trial of a Georgian man, Vladimir Arutunyan,
    accused of trying to assassinate the US and Georgian
    presidents entered its closing phase on Wednesday (January
    11), as the court was expected to resumed for closing
    statements.
    Aruthunyan is accused of an attack against US president
    Bush and for the murder of an anti-terrorism officer.
    Judges are expected to reach a verdict by Wednesday.
    Arutunyan was arrested in July last year after a
    special operation in which an anti-terrorism officer was
    killed.
    Defence lawyer Liza Djaparinze said that their was
    insufficient proof in which to convict him of murder of the
    anti-terrorist officer.
    "There are no weighty arguments proving that he has
    committed any crime. In a murder case, prosecution asks for
    a life sentence. On the murder spot, or actually in the
    body of the victim, the experts did not find a bullet, and
    they couldn't determine what type of weapon made the
    wounds which caused death," she said to journalists outside
    the courtroom.
    In regards to the attempted attack on Bush, U.S.
    officials said at the time the grenade only failed to
    explode because of a malfunction and landed within 30
    metres (100 feet) of Bush as he spoke to tens of thousands
    of people in Tbilisi's Freedom Square.
    Soon after his arrest Arutunyan confessed to throwing
    the grenade and a video tape of him being questioned by
    police was released to the local media by the Georgian
    Interior Ministry.
    The security scare marred Bush's trip to Georgia,
    intended to show U.S. support for the West-leaning
    government that came to power after a democratic revolution
    20 months ago.
    Officials said the grenade could have caused major
    injuries in the close-packed crowd, the largest gathering
    of people on the square since the "Rose Revolution" led by
    now-President Mikhail Saakashvili.
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