Eurasia Daily Monitor
The Jamestown Foundation
July 25 2005
TBILISI ARRESTS SUSPECT IN BUSH GRENADE INCIDENT, BUT MANY QUESTIONS
REMAIN
By Zaal Anjaparidze
Bush grenade suspect, Vladimir Arutyunian, has ties to Armenia,
Russia After an intense search, on July 20 Georgian police arrested
an individual suspected of tossing a hand-grenade towards U.S.
President George W. Bush during his speech at Tbilisi’s Freedom
Square on May 10.
Vladimir Arutyunian, 27, is an ethnic Armenian resident of Tbilisi.
The police tracked Arutyunian down using an anonymous telephone tip
received after local authorities published a photo of the suspect on
July 18. Arutyunian vigorously resisted when three officers from the
Ministry of Interior attempted to enter his apartment in
Vashli-Jvari, a suburb of Tbilisi, to arrest him and was wounded in
the process.
Arutyunian shot to death Zurab Kvlividze, 37, head of the
Anti-Terrorist Department of the Interior Ministry, who had managed
to wound Arutyunian when he was trying to escape. Eyewitnesses said
that Kvlividze made a fatal error when he allowed the wounded
Arutyunian time to rise to his feet and shoot.
While the police called for an ambulance for their wounded colleague,
Arutyunian fled to a nearby park. Additional police converged on the
park and managed to take the suspect into custody after a two-hour
chase.
At a special press conference late on July 20, Georgian Interior
Minister Vano Merabishvili emphasized that the ministry’s
investigative group, in cooperation with U.S. specialists, have
conducted an enormous investigation over the last few months and
managed to identify Arutyunian. The police inquiry accelerated after
a photo of the suspect was published along with the announcement of a
reward of 150,000 Laris (about $82,000) for information leading to
the arrest of the suspect. In two days the ministry’s hotline
received more than 150 anonymous calls.
Merabishvili said it would take time to prove Arutyunian’s
involvement in the attempt on the U.S. President’s life. Arutyunian’s
mother, Angela, was also detained and interrogated by police. She
told journalists that she had not seen her son for three days before
July 20. “I cannot believe that my son committed this crime,” she
declared. Mrs. Arutyunian told journalists that they had shown her
four photographs and asked her whether the man in the photos was her
son. “I told them that the man on the photographs did not look like
my son,” she said.
Arutyunian’s neighbors say that the family lives in extreme poverty.
They say that the suspect grew up without a father and that he is a
loner. They characterize him as a close-mouthed person leading a
secluded life. A medical examination has yet to determine
Arutyunian’s state of mind.
At a July 21 news conference, Merabishvili revealed that the suspect
was arrested after police received valuable information from several
citizens, who had called the hotline after the Interior Ministry
issued photos of the suspect. Merabishvili said that the reward would
go to several persons whose information had helped law enforcement
capture the suspect. The identities of those persons will remain
confidential. According to Merabishvili, an investigation is underway
to determine if Arutyunian had any co-conspirators.
Additionally, video footage issued by the Ministry on July 21 and
broadcast by Georgian television showed Arutyunian’s apartment where
police found several hand-grenades, military uniforms, a night-vision
device, several gasmasks, and military guidelines. The origin of this
military ammunition has yet to be clarified.
Later on July 21, the Ministry released a short interview with the
suspect. The footage showed Arutyunian admitting that he had tossed a
hand grenade into the crowd during President Bush’s speech.
Arutyunian not only confessed to his crime, but he also said that he
would make another attempt if the opportunity presents itself,
according to Deputy Healthcare Minister Irakli Giorgobiani.
Giorgobiani, however, underlined that the suspect was suffering from
shock, “so his confession cannot be trusted one hundred percent.”
Hospital personnel also said that Arutyunian demonstrated some
command of the English language when he cursed the FBI investigators
who came to see him in the hospital. (FBI experts were also seen in
the suspect’s apartment shortly after the arrest.) According to
medical personnel, the suspect has three wounds that do not represent
any immediate danger to his life. Although the Interior Ministry
initially announced that Arutyunian’s whereabouts would not be
disclosed for security reasons, this information quickly became
public. Currently the suspect is under heavy guard at the Central
Republican Hospital.
The Russian hand grenade that triggered this case was manufactured in
Armenia. The Armenian origin of Arutyunian has already caused some
speculation. One rumor has him possibly connected with the Russian
military bases currently stationed in Georgia. On July 21, Vladimir
Kuparadze, Deputy Commander of the Group of Russian Troops in the
Trans-Caucasus (GRTT) said that Arutyunian “has no connections with
GRTT.”
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and U.S. officials highly
praised the work of the Georgian Interior Ministry. Nevertheless,
several questions remain unanswered, such as why Arutyunian, if
guilty, did not attempt to either hide or leave Georgia after the
incriminating photos were released.
The main question, however, is whether Arutyunian is the actual
person who tossed the grenade and, if so, whether he is an isolated
individual or a pawn guided by others. Some Georgian intelligence
experts doubt that Arutyunian had been recruited by any foreign
special service, judging by his odd behavior after the unsuccessful
attempt. However, Givi Targamadze, chair of the Georgian
parliamentary committee for defense and security, and his deputy,
Nika Rurua, argue that Arutyunian’s personality might make him easily
manipulated by foreign intelligence agents.
In his July 23 interview, Arutyunian confirmed that he had intended
to kill President Saakashvili and President Bush. He said that he had
tried to throw the grenade in such a manner that, if it exploded,
that fragments would spray beyond the bulletproof glass protecting
the two men.
Tbilisi City Court sentenced Arutyunian to three months in pre-trial
detention on July 23.
(TV-Rustavi-2, TV-Imedi, Interfax-AVN, Gazeta.ru, Regnum July 20-24).