Bush Grenade Suspect Captured After Shootout in Georgia
CBS reports that Georgian Police have arrested a man they consider responsible for the failed attempt to throw a grenade at the U.S. President George Bush and his Georgian counterpart Mikheil Saakashvili. A reward of $80,000 had been offered for any information that might lead to the capture of the suspect who was identified from footage shot at the May rally in Tbilisi’s Liberty Square by the Georgian TV station Rustavi-2.
(CBS/AP) Georgian police detained a man Wednesday suspected of throwing a live grenade during a rally at which President Bush spoke in May, the Interior Ministry said. The capture came after a shootout in which one officer was killed and another wounded.
The shootout and detention occurred Wednesday evening in the village of Vashlisdzhvari, outside the capital, Tbilisi, ministry spokesman Guram Donadze told The Associated Press. The suspect fled into the woods but was later detained, Donadze said.
Rustavi-2 television showed pictures of a dark-haired man it described as the suspect being hustled into a car by police officers. It said he was wounded and identified him as Vladimir Arutyunov, in his late 20s.
Anyway, after initial reports that the Soviet-era grenade was modified in Armenia for use in Karabakh, I really hope that “Arutyunov” is not the Russified version of the Armenian surname Arutyunyan but somehow suspect that it is. Civil.ge also covers the news of Arutyunov’s arrest but actually does refer to him as Arutyunyan.
I also really hope he has no connection with the Armenian populated region of Javakheti in Georgia and that the evidence is enough to prove within a shadow of a doubt whether he’s innocent or guilty. But what am I saying? The guy killed a policeman while trying to evade capture.
The BBC also covers the story.
I am afraid you’re right about the name, Onnik. Arutyunov is the Russified verion of Harutyunyan. You can see this in other surname’s as well, mostly of Armenians who have been living in Russia for a while. Some of them change their Armenian surnames to a more Russian sounding one. Elsewhere, this guy’s first name was mentioned as Vova, which is a shortened version of Vladimir.
Comment by Myrthe — July 21, 2005 @ 8:50 am
Ouch! I mean surnames (without the )!
Comment by Myrthe — July 21, 2005 @ 9:12 am