BUSH GRENADE THROWING SUSPECT SAYS HE WOULD DO IT AGAIN

ArmenPress
July 21 2005

TBILISI, JULY 21, ARMENPRESS: Vladimir Arutyunov (Harutunian) detained
by Georgian law-enforcers on suspicion of throwing a grenade at the
US president George W. Bush in the Georgian capital Tbilisi last May
10 pleaded guilty.

The suspect is currently in hospital after being wounded in a
shootout with Georgian police. Doctors said he was ready to commit
another terrorist attack against Bush and Georgian president Mikhail
Saakashvili. Georgia’s deputy health minister, Irakly Giorgobiani,
was quoted as saying that Arutyunov’s mental state could have been
affected by his injuries. FBI officials have already visited him in the
hospital. He killed a policeman in the shootout and wounded another one
and himself received three bullets that are not life-threatening. He
was expected later in the day to be transported to a prison hospital
in Tbilisi.

The shootout and detention occurred Wednesday evening in the village
of Vashlisdzhvari, outside the capital, Tbilisi. The man lived in an
eight-story apartment building with his mother, and was unemployed. The
police operation came two days after authorities released a photograph
of a man suspected of throwing the grenade, which failed to explode,
at a podium where Bush was speaking May 10 before tens of thousands
of people.

Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili also had announced a reward of
about $80,000 for information leading to the identification of the
man, who was shown with dark hair and dark glasses. The grenade landed
less than 100 feet from the podium but did not explode. A preliminary
investigation indicated the grenade malfunctioned, the FBI said.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress