Moscow Accused of Backing Georgian Revolt
// Justice Party coup thwarted
There was a massive wave of arrests of opposition leaders in Georgia yesterday. Twenty-nine supporters of former head of Georgian state security and accused terrorist Igor Giorgadze are now in custody. Interior Minister Vano Mirabishvili announced that an attempted coup financed by Russia had been prevented. The opposition says that a new political era has begun in Georgia as “the authorities try to hold on to power through repression alone.”
They Came at Sundown
At 5:00 p.m., machinegun-toting agents of Interior Ministry special divisions broke into the apartments of leaders of the Justice, Anti-Soros and Conservative Monarchist Parties in practically all regions of Georgia. Those parties make up the so-called Igor Giorgadze bloc. Giorgadze, a former state security chief, is wanted for terrorism and has received political refugee status in Russia. Police operations were also carried out at the homes of his relatives last night.
Armored personnel carriers appeared on the main roads in the outskirts of Tbilisi, administrative buildings were placed under the guard of special forces troops and helicopters circled in the air. These measures were taken from concern that the opposition parties would stir up rioting in the Georgian capital.
After searches were conducted, 29 opposition leaders and activists were arrested. Searches of the opposition groups' offices were conducted simultaneously and, according to official accounts, charter documents, computers, money and weapons were seized from them.
Georgian Interior Minister Vano Mirabishvili stated that law enforcement had prevented an attempt to overthrow the government. “The arrestees will be charged under article 315of the Criminal Code of Georgia, conspiracy against the state and overthrowing authority,” he said. That article entails punishment raging up to life imprisonment. Mirabishvili said that the Interior Ministry received information several months ago that leaders of the Giorgadze bloc were planning to overthrow the government and organize his return to the country. After that information was confirmed and “irrefutable proof” was received, those leaders were arrested.
“We seized a mass of documents and several investigative groups are now studying them,” head of the Interior Ministry administration Shota Khizanishvili told Kommersant. “We have evidence that the so-called opposition was financed by Russia. But I am a policeman and not a politician, so I cannot judge about the topic. I will only say that, during searches of the arrestees, $46,000, 10,000 lari and firearms – Kalashnikov machineguns, grenade launchers, pistols and ammunition, were seized. We found the weapons in the cellar of the house of Kakhaber Kantaria from Justice.
Many prominent Georgian politicians appeared on television to endorse the theory that the coup was being prepared by Russia. Deputy speaker of the parliament Mikhail Machavariani, for example, stated that “all those groups were financed by the Russian special services, and the money was not provided through the Georgian banking system, but under the table.”
Conspiracies Theory
“The arrestee have been accused of collaborating with leader of the Justice Party Igor Giorgadze, who is being sought by law enforcement, and on May 24, Maiya Topuria [a Justice Party leader and relative of Giorgadze] held a meeting at which actions were allegedly planned to overthrown the constitutional order,” explained Gela Nikolaishvili, lawyer for arrested monarchist party leader Taimuraz Zhorzholiani. “The coup was allegedly supposed to take place in autumn. And Russia allotted money for it. That is the reason indicated on the orders issued by judges for searches and arrests.”
Nikolaishvili has been unable to talk to his client so far. He was not allowed to see him yesterday. Therefore, it possible to related the events only from indirectly sources who were able to avoid arrest.
Maiya Topuria called me at five in the morning,” Irina Sarishvili, head of the Igor Giorgadze Philanthropic Fund, told Kommersant, “and asked me to come to her home immediately. I came. There were many armed men there in masks. They were breaking the door to Maiya's apartment down. They did not let me through, but I saw how they broke into her home and waited to see how it ended. At 9:00, they called me from our office and said that a search was going on there. When I arrived, the place had been surrounded and there were investigators in the office. They said that we should give them the “secret accounting books, ammunition and money' that we receive from Russia. Our fund is not registered, and we do not carry out any financial operations. The investigators seized all of our documents and said that first they will study and after that charges may be announced against me.”
Sarishvili does not intend to flee and plans to hold a press conference today and urge “Georgian society to protest, because it is no longer possible to tolerate such things.” She said that there was no meeting of the Georgian opposition on May 24. The Georgian Interior Ministry chose that date because that was the day on which Igor Giorgadze first appeared officially in Moscow and said that he would fight for power in Georgia. Sarishvili said that the opposition planned only a few peaceful actions in the autumn related to local elections on October 5.
After yesterday's arrests, many opposition members have gone underground. “Our supporters were able to flee thanks to the fact that they were warned,” Jemal Gogitidze, a Justice leader living in Russia told Kommersant. “They immediately called us and said that they will be forced to hide. We can't even call our people now, because is Georgia telephone calls are a reason for arrest. If you remember, a month ago, Boris Ivanov, leader of the Assyrian diaspora visited his sick father in Tbilisi from Moscow. His friends asked him to call Emzar Kvitsiani and, on the next day, the police came, planted a pistol and drugs and now he has been in custody for two months. And he is over sixty years old!”
Gogitidze explained the weapons and ammunition found as follows. “They came especially to find weapons, money, drugs and everything that would compromise us there. I wouldn't be surprised if they found a tunnel from Tbilisi to London during their searches.”
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili has long been worried about the Igor Giorgadze bloc, which has repeatedly made fun of him. In one public appearance, Saakashvili stated that he had been informed of an attempt by the Russian special services to carry out a coup d'etat with the help of Giorgadze. “It is his idée fixe,” leader of the opposition labor party Shalva Natelashvili told Kommersant. “Saakashvili came to power illegally and now he is afraid that the will take power from him in the same way. Moreover, as someone who came to power on the money of foreign governments, he sees danger in all politicians who are financed by foreign governments. The Giorgadze bloc is not at all dangerous because it does not have much support among the people, but Saakashvili is certain that the Russian special services are behind Giorgadze and are preparing to overthrow him soon.”
Natelashvili thinks that “an era of political repression has started in Georgia that Saakashvili will use to hold into power.” Gogitidze concurs. “Saakashvili feels that he is losing public support because of the break with Russia and he needs to form the image of an enemy that is preventing him from reaching success. The theory of conspiracies is essential for him. That is how he is trying to win Georgians' support.”
The shot fired recently by the South Ossetian military on a helicopter carrying Georgian Defense Minister Irakly Okruashvili fits into that theory well. The Georgian Interior Ministry says that that was not just the firing of shots, but an attempt to assassinate one of the country's top security officials. Yesterday's operation is therefore considered timely in Georgia.
Georgian authorities have prevented three coups this year. The first was the revolt in Ortachal Prison in March. Georgian crime “godfather” Tariel Potskhveria, who is hiding in Ukraine, was considered the organizer of the uprising, which was to spread to Georgia's other prisons. Speaker of the Georgian parliament Nino Burjanadze stated after the revolt was put down that “serious forces” were behind it that were interested in destabilizing the country. She hinted at the Russian special services using organized crime. A law on fighting organized crime was passed in Georgia at the end of last year under which it is possible to be sentenced to a lengthy prison term just on the suspicion of involvement in the criminal world. The second attempted coup was the uprising of former governor of Svanetia Emzar Kvitsiani, as a result of which Georgia was nearly drawn into a war with Abkhazia and Russia. According to Georgian special services, Kvitsiani was given refuge in Russia after that revolted was quelled.
Considering that these attempts are growing in scale, Georgian authorities have nothing left to do but increase control over nongovernmental organizations and strengthen police institutions. That in turn will lead to mass protests and the loss of the democratic gains made by Saakashvili. It is possible that that is the reason why yesterday's operation was carried out by security forces in the president's absence. He is on an official visit to Poland.
Olga Allenova, Vladimir Novikov
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 07, 2006
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