Terrorist act against leaders of breakaway republic averted in Abkhazia

Abkhazian law-enforcement agencies detained a citizen of Georgia who was to commit a terrorist act against several high-ranking officials of the republican State Security Service on the instructions of Georgian special services. The name of the detained man is not disclosed in the interests of investigation. He is being held in the investigatory isolation ward of the Abkhazian State Security Service. At a meeting with media representatives, the detainee told who had gave him the assignment and against whom he had to commit the terrorist act in Abkhazia.

The man is a citizen of Georgia. He was detained in Zugdidi by officers of the Georgian State Security Ministry and conveyed to Tbilisi, where he met the State Security Minister of the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia in exile, Levan Kiknadze. "They told me they would kill me and my family would suffer if I didn't do what they ordered me," the detainee said. After the recruitment, Kiknadze gave him $100 for minor expenses and ordered him to stay in Zugdidi until he was notified of the time to execute the assignment. The assignment itself was to deliver a package with a poisonous substance to Eduard Emin-zade, an official of the Abkhazian State Security Service whom the detainee knew personally. "They said Emin-zade was the first to be gotten rid of and they would reach others later," the detainee said. Abkhazian Prime Minister Raul Khadzhimba and Deputy Chief of the Abkhazian State Security Service Mikhail Tarba were meant to be "the others".

Representatives of international organizations were also present at the meeting with the detained man.

The authorities of Abkhazia have informed the UN Observer Mission in Georgia about the detention of the terrorist.