A court in Georgia has sentenced a man to life in prison for trying to assassinate President Bush and the leader of Georgia by throwing a grenade at them during a rally last year.
Vladimir Arutyunian, convicted of the grenade attack
Vladimir Arutyunian was also convicted of killing a policeman during a shootout when authorities were trying to arrest him several weeks after the grenade attack.
The grenade that Arutyunian threw during the rally attended by Mr Bush and President Mikhail Saakashvili landed about 100 feet from the stage where they were standing behind a bulletproof barrier and did not explode. No one was hurt.
The grenade, which was wrapped in a cloth, apparently malfunctioned, investigators said.
Arutyunian (27) has admitted he threw the grenade and said he would try again to kill Mr Bush if he had the chance.
Arutyunian, who was arrested in July, did not testify during the trial, which began last month. In December, he appeared in court with his mouth sewn shut in what he called a show of solidarity with thousands of inmates conducting a hunger strike in the former-Soviet republic.
Arutyunian's lawyer said she would appeal because "I consider that everything was far from proved." She cited the fact that Arutyunian's fingerprints were not found on the grenade.
As he was led from court, he was asked if he considered himself a terrorist or an anti-globalist. "I don't consider myself a terrorist, I'm just a human being," he replied.
AP