Russian demonstrators of the Marching Together youth political movement stand with posters
depicting Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili as Nazi leader Adolf Hitler during a protest in
front of the Georgian embassy in Moscow
Posted on 07/30/2005 12:04:20 AM PDT by MarMema
TBILISI, Georgia (AP) - Georgian police working with the FBI discovered dangerous substances in the house of the suspect who admitted throwing a live grenade toward President Bush at a rally in Tbilisi in May, officials said Wednesday.
Sergo Dzagnidze, chief of the criminal police department at the Interior Ministry, told The Associated Press that 5 gallons of sulfuric acid, several boxes of mercury thermometers, a centrifuge, a microscope and other devices and dangerous chemicals were found in the cellar.
The suspect, Vladimir Arutyunian, was detained last week after a police shootout.
He was charged Tuesday with terrorism over the grenade attack, in addition to earlier charges of killing a police officer in the shootout and illegal possession of weapons.
``The dangerous substances found in the cellar of Arutyunian show that he posed a risk and had a big potential for carrying out terrorist acts,'' General-Prosecutor Zurab Adeishvili said.
Both Bush and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili were behind a bulletproof barrier addressing a rally of thousands in Tbilisi in May when the grenade landed about 100 feet away. It did not explode; investigators said it apparently malfunctioned. No one was harmed.
Arutyunian was shown on local television last week admitting throwing the grenade. The suspect said he hoped to kill Bush because he believed the U.S. leader was ``interfering in Georgia's internal affairs,'' his lawyer said Tuesday.
ping
Gee, where would he get that idea? From anti-western conspiracy theories about evil "color-coded" revolutions made in Washington D.C.?
Throw in the killing of the policeman and attempting to kill the president of the USA and you have a fun guy at the pub a Friday night .... jeeess......
Russian troops are of course still in Georgia despite being invited to leave.
Russian "UN peacekeepers" support separatist guerrillas in Georgia too
Well, now he might well be a nasty guy, but don't get excited about the contents of his cellar.
Look at your house with an eye toward proving you were a dangerous guy. I personally have several containers highly flammable liquid, (gas for the lawn mower, the outboard, etc). I have lots wires (computer gear with wires etc) and half a dozen radio transmitters (cell phones, cordless phones, garage door openers, etc.). I have explosive powders (flour) and a "cache" of weapons (hunting guns, shotguns etc.) I have a mercury switch or two squirreled away in my junk bin, and a collection of chemicals (solvents, paint thinner, acetone, etc.) Oh, yeah, and a bunch of reloading supplies.
The truth is just about any home can be made out to be a terrorists lair if the police really want to put a spin on it.
I remember that after McVey blew up the federal building, the FBI had the Eruo Police (england or france, I forget) yank some poor Egyptian guy off an airplane and detain him because he had bomb making materials with him. Wires. For the fax machine he purchased in the states to take back home.
Not that I'm defending the grenade tosser, just pointing out that his particular laundry list didn't sound so frightening to me.
Oh, and one more thing. Weak sulfuric acid is often used to clean up around tile or stone work, such as floors, rock fire places etc. Does a good number on the cement. Masons use it all the time.
Untill you know the strength of it, you can't judge.
Richard Jewel
Yup.
True, and in TBILISI, Georgia the paint probably still has lead in it too... ;-)
Sure we can give the guy the benefit of the doubt for the contents in his basement but I trust you haven't thrown too many live grenades at presidents lately.
Nope. No Duds either. ;-)
I wonder where did this guy get the grenade anyway?
Sounds like one of those training grenades that someone sold him as the real thing. Either that or it was laying around since the second world war or something.
Very good point and I had wondered about that too because even though he didn't really come close to President Bush had the grenade that he tossed actually gone off there would have been numerous injuries. You would think that if someone was serious about doing something like that they would at least be able to get a grenade to detonate.
Whoa! When did this happen, do you know?
We're helping them get into NATO, get a decent army in place, get the borders secure, among other things.
Weak sulfuric acid is often used to clean up around tile or stone work, such as floors, rock fire places etc
Good points. If you have a jug of Liquid Plumber or Liquid Drano in your house, you have 'sulphuric acid.'
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