The Messenger, Georgia
posted July 26 2005
FBI officers search suspect’s apartment
Grenade believed to be homemade; lawyer has encouraged suspect to
cooperate with investigators
By Tiko Giorgadze
Investigators from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation are
continuing their search of the apartment and basement used by
Vladimir Arutunian, the man who police believe threw the grenade
toward President George Bush as he spoke in Tbilisi on May 10.
According to the U.S. Embassy, the agents are conducting an ongoing
investigation into the case.
A spokesperson from the Embassy told The Messenger on Monday that the
investigators are assisting the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs
which is investigating the case.
Georgian television stations reported on Monday that during the
search of a basement room used by Arutunian, investigators found
chemicals that could be used to make grenades.
Earlier Georgian analysts reported the grenade was an Armenian model
but on Monday stations reported the device was homemade, offering a
new explanation as to why it did not explode.
On Sunday the mother of the suspect Angela Arutunian said that she
had been questioned by American officials but was told not to make
any comments about the interrogation.
Neighbors and television crews around the apartment, which is located
in the Tbilisi suburb of Vashlijvari, have been cut off from seeing
much of the investigation and both the Georgian Ministry of Internal
Affairs and the FBI are releasing little information on the case.
“Yesterday afternoon the FBI officers came to the territory and
worked there until about 7:30 p.m. They are just working but nobody
knows what they could manage to discover on the territory or even
what they are carrying out from there since only American FBI
officers are allowed on the territory,” one of Arutunian’s neighbors
Gocha Beriashvili told reporters.
The 27-year-old suspect remains in the Republic Hospital where he has
stayed since being shot during his arrest on Wednesday, July 10. His
doctor Nikoloz Chaduneli says Arutunian has not been psychiatrically
analyzed and as of Monday there were no plans to move him.
“I can say that the condition of the patient is quite normal. At this
time he is still in the therapy department as he requires therapy
treatment. Then we are going to study him psychiatrically,” the
doctor said.
Asked by Imedi TV if the patient can calmly respond to questions or
if he is aggressive, the doctor said that his mood alters from at
times very calm to at other times very aggressive.
During his arrest on Wednesday, he shot and killed the head of
Georgia’s Anti-Terrorist Center, a crime for which he has already
been charged. Officials are delaying charges relating to the grenade
until the current investigation is complete.
Arutunian’s lawyer Guliko Jimsheladze told reporters that she has
asked the suspect to cooperate with law enforcement since this will
help the case move forward more easily.
“At this stage I do not have the right to say anything about what
Arutunian has told me, but when he refuses the right to remain silent
then everything will be known to everyone,” she told reporters on
Monday.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress