TWO ARMENIAN SPIES SNATCHED IN GEORGIA

AzerNews Weekly
Jan 28 2009
Azerbaijan

The leaders of two Armenian nationalist groups have been detained on
suspicion of espionage in Georgia.

The two, seized by Georgia`s Interior Ministry counter-intelligence
department, have also been charged with creating illegal armed units.

The two Armenians, Grigor Minasian and Sergey Akopian, are citizens
of Georgia, a source from the ministry told local media.

Minasian is the director of an Armenian youth center in the largely
Armenian-populated Akhalkalaki region of Georgia, while Akopian is the
president of the Charles Aznavour charity. Searches have been conducted
at the homes and offices of the Armenians and some items confiscated.

This is not the first arrest of representatives of Armenian
organizations in Georgia. In June 2008, the head of the United
Democratic Alliance, Gurgen Shirinian, was arrested after throwing
a bomb at a police station in Akhalkalaki. Other representatives of
the alliance were also arrested.

The Armenian public alleges that the frequent arrests are part
of a put-up anti-Armenian campaign intended to sideline Armenian
activists from public development. To prevent this from happening,
members of Armenian organizations have sent complaints to the Council
of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, and to
Amnesty International.