Former Official Arrested for Alleged Coup Plotting Links

Irakli Batiashvili of the opposition Forward Georgia party, who was Georgia?s security chief in early 90s, was arrested and charged with having links to a coup attempt staged by rebel warlord Emzar Kvitsiani, the deputy chief prosecutor said on July 29.

?Irakli Batiashvili was giving recommendations and instructions to Emzar Kvitsiani to plot a coup against the Georgian government. Moreover, Batiashvili is also accused of not informing the relevant bodies of the Georgian authorities about the fact that Deputy Defense Minister of breakaway Abkhazia Gari Kupalba was offering help to Emzar Kvitsiani with arms,? Deputy General Prosecutor Kakha Koberidze told reporters  on July 29.

Batiashvili denies the charges, while activists from Forward Georgia say that Batiashvili?s arrest is politically-motivated.
 
The Interior Ministry released a recording of a phone conversation between Emzar Kvitsiani and Irakli Batiashvili on July 26. In the taped conversation, Kvitsiani tells Batiashvili that Abkhazia Deputy Defense Minister Gari Kupalba offered the help of Abkhaz fighters to repel Georgian government troops. Later, Batiashvili told Rustavi 2 that the taped conversation was edited and missing the portion where Kvitsiani declines Kupalba?s offer. In the tapped conversation Batiashvili encouraged Kvitsiani and told him: ?stand firm.?

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