Former State Security Minister Igor Giorgadze, wanted by Georgia for masterminding car-bomb attack against President Shevardnadze, has been registered as an MP candidate to run for the 2 November parliamentary election in a constituency in Samtredia, western Georgia.
Giorgadze fled Georgia in the fall of 1995 after being accused by the Georgian authorities of masterminding the terrorist attack on Eduard Shevardnadze. He allegedly found a refuge in Moscow.
Although Interpol has issued a warrant for his arrest, Giorgadze has given numerous interviews to Russian media sources. Georgia demands in vain from Russia to extradite Giorgadze.
According to the Central Election Commission, the Interior Ministry will clarify whether Giorgadze has been resident in Georgia for the past two years, as required by the Election Law to run for MP.
In his registration appeal to the election commission Giorgadze claims that he has lived in Georgia’s breakaway South Ossetia for last two years, thus has right to run for MP.
The CEC rejected to register Giorgadze as a candidate in the 1999 parliamentary and 2000 presidential elections because he did not lived in Georgia since 1995.