Georgian authorities have identified the suspect and rumor is the suspect is a Russian soldier.
Georgia’s Prosecutor-General Zurab Adeishvili said today that authorities will soon be in a position to say who allegedly threw a hand grenade that landed within 100 feet of US President George Bush during his visit last month to the former Soviet republic.
“In the interests of the investigation I cannot yet give any details, but in the nearest future, the public will be informed who carried out this crime,” he told reporters.
On May 10 Bush spoke to tens of thousands of people in Freedom Square, a main square in Tbilisi, as part of a visit aimed at cementing relations between the US and Georgia’s new pro-Western leadership. He offered strong support for Georgia’s democratic developments, and the crowd response was overwhelmingly favourable.
According to the FBI’s initial investigation, the grenade failed to explode only because of a malfunction.
There are two versions presented on Georgian TV and Pravda. One version is that the suspect is Russian:
Georgian authorities announced the results of investigation into the alleged attempt on G.W. Bush’s life during his visit to Georgia the last month.
According to one version the nationality of the assaulter is not determined, but the police has his photo and he is currently being retrieved.
According to the second version the grenade was thrown by a Russian serviceman, who allegedly tried to leave the country, but fell into “the hands of Americans”. The spokesman for the Russian military in Georgia denied this allegation calling it a provocation. He said that no Russian serviceman had ever been detained on the charge.
For more on this story here is yesterday’s post.
