GEORGIAN TV SAYS OPPOSITION FIGURE ARRESTED OVER ALLEGED CUSTOMS VIOLATION

Channel 1, Tbilisi
5 Feb 07

[Presenter] Irina Sarishvili [leader of the opposition Imedi party
and associate of exiled former security chief Igor Giorgadze]
has been detained by the Constitutional Security Department at the
Sadakhlo border crossing [on the Georgian-Armenian border] and is
currently being questioned. The interrogation has been going on for
several hours. Our correspondent Giga Makarashvili joins us live from
Sadakhlo. Giga, do you have any more details?

[Correspondent] Good evening. We have been at the Sadakhlo checkpoint
for several hours now and a few minutes ago Irina Sarishvili-Chanturia,
leader of the Imedi political union, emerged from a room about 500m
from us in which she had been questioned for three hours. She was
taken back after about five minutes and they said she had been taken
to the toilet.

We were not allowed to talk to Irina Sarishvili but she said that
this was a second attempt, but did not explain further. We have had no
information from the Customs Department apart from the fact that she
was entering Georgia with about 58,000 dollars and 300g of gold. The
reason for her arrest was that she did not list these on her customs
declaration. Quantities of precious metals worth more than 300 lari
have to be declared by law. That is why she is now being questioned.

She was travelling to Georgia from Armenia in an E-class Mercedes
with registration GEO-664. It is not known who this vehicle belongs
to and we do not yet have any further information from law-enforcement
officers.

[Video shows Interior Ministry footage of completed customs declaration
form in Sarishvili’s name with the currency section left blank,
piles of 100-dollar bills and pieces of gold jewellery]