A few days before the crucial parliamentary elections scheduled for Saturday, a loud attack was committed in the Georgian capital. Late evening Tuesday, a bomb exploded in the car of a member of parliament from the opposition party ‘United National Movement’, Givi Targamadze. Targamadze was sitting beside a staff driver, when a bomb exploded in a trunk or under a car body. The victim claims that the unknown watched his car and ignited the remote bomb. The oppositionist miraculously survived. The back of the jeep was almost torn off from the front. If the deputy had sat in the back seat, a tragedy could have occurred. Targamadze got off with nothing more than scratches.
Nevertheless, five people were injured as a result of the explosion. One of them is in the hospital, and the doctors say that the life of the wounded is not in danger. Surprisingly, that the tank with fuel did not detonated after the powerful explosion. Although the MP’s jeep was almost completely destroyed and crumpled, there was no fire. The local experts consider it a miracle..
Immediately after, Targamadze went on air of the opposition channel ‘Rustavi-2’ and blamed the informal head of Georgia, a billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Georgian special services. According to him, "Russian oligarch Ivanishvili is doing everything possible to intimidate the population and opposition, but he will not succeed." The other leaders of the UNM echoed the victim. However, it is not clear what benefit the authorities could get from Targamadze’s death. It would certainly provoked a strong reaction not only of the opposition party, but the entire public opposition.
Speaking at a special briefing, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili said that all the organizers and perpetrators of the terrorist attack, no matter what is their country of origin’, will be punished heavily. Thus, the prime-minister clearly hinted at the ‘external trace’.
In Russia Givi Targamadze is known as ‘Givi Ivanovich.’ He is a suspect in a ‘swamp case.’ A video, in which Targamadze promises the Russian opposition (including Sergei Udaltsov) the financial assistance in the organization of the anti-government demonstrations in Moscow, has been widely shared.
