The Georgian Interior Ministry announced the arrest of eight more plotters allied with Irakly Okruashvili, ex- Defence Minister and leader of the opposition ‘Georgian Party’, which is accused of planning a coup d’état based on the support of the Russian military stationed in South Ossetia. Mr Okruashvili himself has political asylum in France, so the French authorities won’t hand him over to Tbilisi unless Georgia provides solid proof of all the allegations.
According to other opposition activists, such as Sozar Subari, all the arrests are being made under allegations fabricated by the Georgian special services, in order to intimidate the opposition. In reply to this statement, the Georgian police said that they will soon produce compelling evidence of the plot’s existence. For now, the “Georgian Party” is officially only accused of creating an illegal armed unit.
Those arrested or wanted by the police were close colleagues of Irakly Okruashvili and occupied high positions among his staff when he was a minister.
According to the police, those arrested confessed that they plotted with Mr Okruashvili to overthrow the Georgian government with the help of the Russian military. The same testimony states that Okruashvili had an agreement with Moscow about military aid. The troops were supposed to take Gori and Tbilisi and make Mikhail Saakashvili step down, enabling the opposition to organize early elections.
Ex-ambassador to Russia Erosi Kitsmarishvili and Sozar Subari, who were also close to Okruashvili but are not yet accused of plotting with him, deny all the allegations against their colleagues and accuse the Georgian police of fabricating evidence. It is true that some of the materials provided by the police look dubious, at best. On the other hand, it seems that the old saying ‘where there’s smoke there’s fire’ applies here: Mr Okruashvili really promised to ‘return to Georgia to put an end to Saakashvili’s regime’ during his interview on May 22. He refused, however, to comment on how he was actually planning to return if he was wanted by the police. Another opposition leader, Nino Burdjanadze, commented that it is possible that he wanted to penetrate Georgian territory from South Ossetia and she thinks such an act is highly inappropriate, as it points directly to Okruashvili’s connection with Russian special services.
There is another nuance to the story: it seems strange that Moscow would be so favourable to an ex-minister known for his confrontations with Russia over the wine embargo in the past. However, in the past few years Okruashvili has made many appearances on Russian TV, most remarkably in an interview to the First State channel, in which he accused Saakashvili of supporting terrorists in the North Caucasus. It is known for a fact that his comrades who had to flee from Georgia are all now residing in Russia.
France granted Okruashvili asylum under one condition: he is not to organize any armed provocations in Georgia. Therefore, the Georgian authorities are demanding his return, claiming that he has broken this condition. However, experts indicate that the French authorities won’t give up on Okruashvili easily.
Georgy Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi, exclusively to VK.
