A citizen of Armenia attempted to destroy the monument to Heydar Aliyev in Tbilisi
Police in Georgia detained a foreigner who damaged the bust of Heydar Aliyev installed in Tbilisi. The detainee is a citizen of Armenia, confirmed the country's Foreign Ministry.
The bust of the third president of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, installed in one of the parks in Tbilisi, was damaged on September 21, but the detention of the suspect in vandalism became known only on September 30.
“On September 21, a foreign citizen damaged the bust of Heydar Aliyev in Tbilisi. In connection with this incident, the Ministry of Internal Affairs began an investigation under Article 187 of the Criminal Code and detained one person,” the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs commented, as reported by Aktual.ge.
Article 187 of the Criminal Code of Georgia provides for liability for damage or destruction of property, with a possible punishment of up to five years in prison.
Georgian law enforcement did not disclose the nationality of the detainee, but the Armenian Foreign Ministry confirmed that he is a citizen of that country. The Georgian Foreign Ministry notified Armenia of his arrest through diplomatic channels on September 25. The 40-year-old citizen of Armenia came to Tbilisi as a tourist. A court hearing for his case is scheduled for November, writes Pastinfo.
The name of the detainee is not disclosed, only his initials are known – I. A. The court has placed him in custody for 55 days, and he has been placed in penitentiary institution No. 8 (Gldani prison), reported lawyer Teona Peradze.
According to the lawyer, the man arrived in Georgia on September 20. The investigation believes that on the night of September 21, he damaged the Aliyev monument and then attempted to leave the country but was detained at the border. The defense requested not to apply a preventive measure or to choose a measure not related to imprisonment – a bail of 5,000 lari (about 1,900 US dollars), confiscation of his passport, and a ban on leaving Georgia. The court rejected this request.
There are recordings from surveillance cameras in the case, showing a person who damaged the monument. The detained citizen of Armenia refused to give testimony to the investigators.
Peradze noted that she had to independently search for his relatives and inform them about the detention of the man, who ended up in prison without a change of clothes and essential items. "The family is in Armenia. He has no one in Georgia," she said, as reported by Sputnik Armenia.
The damaged bust was covered with fabric drapery after the incident and is set for restoration. It is known that one side of the facial part of the monument was damaged, notes TodayPress TV.
The detained man attempted to topple the bust with a rope he brought with him but was unable to do so and tried to smash the monument with a hammer, claims Minval Politika.