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ANKARA: Armenian Attacker Confesses He Attempted to Kill Bush

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  • ANKARA: Armenian Attacker Confesses He Attempted to Kill Bush

    Journal of Turkish Weekly
    July 25 2005

    Armenian Attacker Confesses He Attempted to Kill President Bush


    * Georgian police have announced the arrest of a man suspected of
    throwing a live hand grenade in the direction of President Mikheil
    Saakashvili and his U.S. counterpart George W. Bush during their
    joint public appearance in Tbilisi on 10 May. The suspect --
    identified as Vladimir Arutyunian, a 27-year-old ethnic Armenian --
    was captured overnight following a shoot-out that claimed the life of
    a senior police officer. Today, Arutyunian confessed to throwing the
    grenade with a view to harming the U.S. president.

    An Armenian man suspected of hurling a grenade at President George W.
    Bush during his May visit to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, has been
    charged with premeditated murder.
    Georgian prosecutors say the charge against Vladimir Arutyunian stems
    from the killing of a Georgian Interior Ministry security officer
    during a gunfight that erupted as police tried to capture him
    Wednesday.
    The United States expressed sympathy over the death of the officer,
    and lauded the bravery and dedication of Georgian authorities in
    taking the man into custody.

    Georgian officials say Mr. Arutyunian confessed to throwing the
    grenade at President Bush, who was addressing tens of thousands
    gathered in Tbilisi's Freedom Square.

    The grenade landed in front of the stage but the Russian-made
    explosive device, folded in a red handkerchief, failed to go off. A
    Georgian security officer reportedly picked it up and removed it from
    the area.

    Georgian authorities say the capture was made possible after police
    were tipped off by some of Arutyunian's neighbors.

    Just three days ago, the Interior Ministry had increased to 150,000
    laris ($80,000) the reward being offered for any information leading
    to the location of the man suspected of tossing a grenade toward Bush
    and Saakashvili while both leaders were addressing tens of thousands
    of people on Tbilisi's Freedom Square.

    At an impromptu press briefing, Interior Minister Ivane (Vano)
    Merabishvili described what happened next.

    "As [police] went to the house of the suspect, Vladimir Vladimirovich
    Arutyunian, he opened fire, causing the death of one of our men,
    Zurab Kvlividze," Merabishvili said. "Arutyunian was wounded in the
    shoot-out that followed and, a few minutes later, detained by a
    special police unit."

    Arutyunian sustained three gun wounds in the leg and chest and was
    rushed to Tbilisi's Republican Hospital for treatment. His condition
    is reportedly not life-threatening, but doctors say it does not allow
    for his immediate transfer to a prison.

    Interior Ministry spokesman Guram Donadze today released a short
    police video of a conversation that he said he had in hospital with
    Arutyunian. In the video, broadcast on Georgian television channels,
    the suspect admits to throwing the grenade with a view to harming
    Bush.

    In earlier comments made to Georgia's Rustavi-2 television channel,
    Deputy Health Minister Irakli Giorgobiani had quoted hospital doctors
    as saying Arutyunian had confessed to throwing the grenade. But
    Giorgobiani had also cast doubt on the suspect's mental health.
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