TBILISI, September 27 (RIA Novosti) - Former Georgian defense minister, Irakly Okruashvili, an outspoken critic of President Mikheil Saakashvili, was detained by police Thursday, the Imedi TV channel reported.
The channel said Okruashvili was detained in the office of his opposition movement "For United Georgia."
"While Okruashvili was being detained, our TV channel's camera crew was in the movement's office. But representatives of law enforcement agencies seized the camera from our operator and did not allow the arrest to be filmed," Imedi said.
No official confirmation of the arrest was available, but another Georgian TV channel, Mze, reported that Okruashvili had been taken to the Prosecutor General's Office.
The former minister announced the creation of an opposition movement on Tuesday, and the following day accused President Saakashvili of corruption and an attempt to kill businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili.
He also said Georgian authorities had covertly planned to seize control over the breakaway republic of South Ossetia in 2006.
"The deadline was the spring of 2006. Only three or four persons were privy to it: the president, myself, Interior Minister Vano Merabishvili, and Prosecutor General Zurab Adeishvili," he told Imedi. However, he said the Georgian president lacked the resolve to order Russian peacekeepers out of the conflict zones.
