Convicted Bomber Arkania Speaks to Kommersant

Gogita Arkania, a convicted Georgian terrorist, described how he had been recruited in Abkhazia by Russian military officer Yevgeny Borisov in an interview with the Russian newspaper Kommersant July 17. Kommersant correspondent Olga Allenova met with Arkania, who is sentenced to 30 years,  in his detention facility in Tbilisi – prison 8.

“When there was a war in Abkhazia, I lived almost five years with my relatives in Zugdidi and Tsalenzhikhe. Before 2005, I often went home [to Abkhazia] and back to Zugdidi, but in 2005 I enrolled into the Georgian Senaki military unit and stopped travelling back home.  I was in Iraq for seven months. Maybe you remember the Kodori gorge special operation in 2007, when Emzar Kvitsiani was detained; I participated in it and even received the General Mazniashvili Award for courage. Defense Minister Okruashvili gave me the award himself. In 2008, the war broke out in South Ossetia; I also went there and received a cerebral contusion,” Arkania said.   

Arkania, who is an Abkhazia native, told in detail about his encounters with the Russian officer Borisov in the Gali district of Abkhazia. According to Arkania, Borisov identified him through one of his old acquaintances, Merab Kolbaia.

According to Arkania, one of his relatives died in Abkhazia in 2010 and he illegally crossed the administrative border. After the funeral, he stayed with his relatives for a while, as he had missed the native village. However, he tried not to attract attention and steered clear of public places. Then he illegally crossed the border back to Georgia.

“When I stayed with my parents, I tried not to be in public. My friends and classmates came to see me, but I did not go out to the market or other public places. However, someone still saw me. Probably it was someone from the village, who worked at the [Russian] base. They all cooperated with the Russians there. I stayed there for half a year and returned to Tbilisi,” Arkania told Kommersant.

According to Arkania, when he returned to Tbilisi, an old friend Merab Kolbaia called him and said that his parents had problems because of Arkania’s illegal stay with them. Arkania immediately went back to Abkhazia. Kolbaia introduced him to officer Yevgeny Borisov from the Russian military base. Borisov threatened Arkania that his parents and nephews would have big problems if he did not carry out Borisov’s assignment. 

“The following day I went to Zugdidi And crossed the border in my usual place by the river, wading. I met with Merab Kolbaia near the village of Saberio. He saw me and immediately said that things were `pretty bad.` I asked him if someone had died, but then I saw a person in Russian military uniform not far from there. There was a military jeep on the road and an armed person in it. I got scared and wanted to run away, as I thought they wanted to arrest me. But Merab told me not to be afraid, because that person only wanted to talk to me. Merab called that major – he was a major – and he came up, greeted me with a handshake and introduced himself as `Zhenya`. It was Yevgeny Borisov,” he said.   

Arkania said Borisov never used his last name, but he later learned who his was from other people in his village.

“I saw this Borisov only four times and [his photograph once] in Tbilisi during an interrogation,” Arkania said.

According to Arkania, Borisov threatened to kill his relatives if he refused to carry out his assignment.

“He threatened my relatives. He knew I fought in Tskhinvali. He said his friend was killed there and he was aggressive. I asked how he knew I had fought in Tskhinvali and he replied `We took your military base in Senaki and there were a lot of documents.` I told him I was just a soldier, but if I did something for Borisov, it would be treason and I did not want to kill people. He said `Don’t worry, there will be no casualties, your people will not die. This is American embassy. You just set a bomb near its fence.` I refused, but he asked me if I cared more about the Americans than about my relatives. He said if I did what he asked I would forget about him then and my relatives would not suffer. I believed him. But later on he said that was not enough and I had to do more. He threatened that he would hand me in to the police,” Arkania said.

Arkania refused to perform the assignments, but his fear for the family was stronger. He set off the bomb together with Merab. Then he was supposed to set off a bomb on railroad in Poti, but that did not work out. Arkania also set off a bomb in the small Borjomi railway station in Tbilisi. Borisov insisted the bomb be blown up in the crowded station hall, but Arkania got scared and executed a “small terrotist attack.”

The Arkania brought a bomb near the Imedi TV channel building in Tbilisi and next to the Labor Party office. Borisov indicated the targets for Arkania, but he only counted those explosions, which were reported on TV. The explosion next to the Labor Party office was Arkania’s last deed. A surveillance camera recorded the moment Arkania set the bomb there, then smoked a cigarette and called a friend. He was then found thanks to the telephone records. But first, there was an explosion and a casualty – a glass fragment pierced an old woman’s heart, who was sleeping in an apartment above the office.

Gogita Arkania was sentenced to 30 years in prison, as was his friend Merab Kolbaia. Kolbaia was detained by Georgian police in a special operation Abkhazia’s Gali district.