Posted on 04/21/2004 10:03:57 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
MOSCOW - Ratcheting up pressure against the rebellious leader of an autonomous area on the Black Sea, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili leveled treason charges yesterday against a general who had declared loyalty to the regional strongman.
Saakashvili said the general had "betrayed his country" by throwing his support to Aslan Abashidze, the defiant head of the Adzharia region in this former Soviet republic. Wanted posters with the mutinous general's photo "will be put up on trees all over Georgia," he said.
"We have not given Adzharia to anyone, and no criminal will be able to break the strong will of the state that Georgia is indivisible and has a single set of laws," the U.S.-educated president said, in comments reported by the Russian news agency Interfax.
Georgia's Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Maj. Gen. Roman Dumbadze, who on Monday told reporters in the Adzharian capital, Batumi, that he would take orders only from Abashidze. The Georgian prosecutor-general's office accused the general of treason, defiance of legitimate authorities, creation of an illegal armed group, illegal acquisition of firearms and abuse of power.
(Excerpt) Read more at baltimoresun.com ...
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