EX-MINISTER OF STATE SECURITY OF GEORGIA IS ADVISED TO ARRIVE IN HIS COUNTRY TO TESTIFY

TBILISI, January 22 (RIA Novosti) - Georgia's State Security Minister Valery Khaburdzania advised his former colleague, ex-State Security Minister Igor Giorgadze, supposedly hiding from justice in one of the CIS countries, to arrive in Georgia and testify on the case in which he was accused masterminding the attempt on the life of ex-President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze in August 1995.

"All those involved in the attempt to assassinate Shevardnadze who were convicted are at large now," Khaburdzania said in an interview with the independent MZE company. "Who knows? Maybe the same lies in store for Giorgadze," he added.

The Georgian side, he said, raised the question of detaining and extraditing Giorgadze suspected by the Georgian authorities of having organized an attempt on Shevardnadze's life and regarded in Georgia as terrorist number one.

"According to available information, Giorgadze is not in Russia at present. He is in one of Russia's neighboring states," Khaburdzania said.

After the 1995 attempt on Shevardnadze's life, Igor Giorgadze left Georgia, and the then Georgian authorities put him on an international wanted list.