Downfall
On August 29, 1995 there was an attempt on the life of, the then president, Eduard Shevardnadze after which Giorgadze was removed from his post. On 4 September, Giorgadze left Georgia after giving a press conference where he announced his plans to move to Moscow. After leaving the country Giorgadze wrote an open letter to Shevardnadze where he called Shevardnadze's regime a "Mafia State". Soon after the letter the allegations implicating his involvement in the August 29th assassinaiton attempt followed and warrants were sent to Interpol for Giorgadze's arrest. In 1997 there was a trial called the "Trial of the Century" where those accused of involvement with the assassination attempt against Shevardnadze were tried. With 13 defendants and 365 witnesses the prosecution was unable to link Giorgadze to the terrorist act as neither the defendants nor witnesses testified against him. Claims against Giorgadze remain unproven yet the charges have not been dropped. Giorgadze himself has always denied any involvement with the August 29th assassinaiton attempt and accused the Georgian government of political prosecution.
Read more about this topic: Igor Giorgadze
Famous quotes containing the word downfall:
“Show me one thing here on earth which has begun well and not ended badly. The proudest palpitations are engulfed in a sewer, where they cease throbbing, as though having reached their natural term: this downfall constitutes the heart’s drama and the negative meaning of history.”
—E.M. Cioran (b. 1911)
“Children demand that their heroes should be fleckless, and easily believe them so: perhaps a first discovery to the contrary is less revolutionary shock to a passionate child than the threatened downfall of habitual beliefs which makes the world seem to totter for us in maturer life.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)