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.