IGOR GIORGADZE
IGOR GIORGADZE
, a Zviadist who fled to Russia with his followers following the 1995 attack on Shevardnadze. Russia has repeatedly rejected Georgian requests for Giorgadze’s extradition, claiming ignorance of his whereabouts. But a high Russian official last week acknowledged that although the Giorgadze group "may have enjoyed the protection of certain Russian security structures" in the past, this latest attempt has brought about a "changed psychological atmosphere." There is, he said, "a good chance" Giorgadze and his group will be detained and extradited in the near future.
A group of twenty armed Zviadists in Georgia took four United Nations military observers and six Georgians hostage on February 19, demanding the release of the suspects in the February 9 attempt and the release of other Zviadists in Georgian jails. The incident occurred in western Georgia, in an area patrolled by Russian "peacekeepers" whose ostensible purpose is containment of the conflict with Georgia’s breakaway Republic of
