Man detained in Georgia over attempt at Bush unrelated to Rssn army
By Eka Mekhuzla, Tengiz Pachkoria

ITAR-TASS News Agency
July 21, 2005 Thursday 9:44 AM Eastern Time

TBILISI, July 21 — Commander of Russian Troops in the Trans-Caucasian
Area, Vladimir Kuparadze said Thursday an ethnic Armenian citizen of
Georgia, who had been arrested here the day before on suspicions of
an attempt at U.S. President George W. Bush’s life was unrelated to
the Russian troops in any way.

Vladimir Arutynian, 27, was arrested late Wednesday night on the
suspicion that he had thrown a combat grenade at President Bush when
the latter man was addressing a rally of democracy fans in Tbilisi
May 10, 2005.

“We searched through our database for Arutyunian’s name,” Kuparadze
said. “Vladimir V. Arutyunian never served on the bases reporting to
Russia’s Trans-Caucasian troops and is not related to them in any way.”

As he commented on the fact that a Russian army uniform and epaulets
had been found in the man’s apartment, Kuparadze said: “Many people
in Georgia and other countries have Russian army uniforms at home, and
they are both civilians and former servicemen of law and order forces.”

“Buying a Russian or any other national army uniform isn’t a problem
in Georgia or elsewhere,” he said,

According to Georgian police, operatives found a Russian military
uniform, epaulets, field glasses, and Russian-language special
literature on military training during a search in Arutyunian’s
apartment.

“As they searched throught the basement floor in that building, they
found electric cables of unknown designation, transmitting devices,
and different biological and chemical sustances Arutyunian might use
in making explosives,” Georgian police sources said.

His mother Anjela said her son did not have a higher education but he
was very well-read in science and technology, was very knowledgeable
in electornics and very skillful in repairing and making various
devices with his own hands.

“Even if my son himself tells me it was he who threw that grenade on
Independence Square, I’ll never believe it,” Anjela Arutyunian said.
“He wasn’t starving, he wasn’t needy and I can’t believe he could
have committed a crime like that.”

Their neighbors say, in the meantime, the Arutyunians have been a
rather impoverished family.

“They lived in poverty, and Vladimir grew up without a father and
was a detached boy,” one of the neighbors said.

Vladimir, who does not have an official job, never had any criminal
charges brought against him.

His mother is a saleswoman at one of the city’s bazaars and his father
died 20 years ago.

The neighbors said however Vladimir had definitely gotten some money
of late and even bought a cellphone. They indicated they had offered
help in getting a permanent job for him but he declined the offers
citing poor health.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress