Georgia Mutiny at military base over

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Source: CCTV.com | 05-06-2009 09:27

A former Georgian special forces commander and a tank battalion commander have been arrested for allegedly organizing an attempted mutiny. But the uprising ended peacefully when most participants surrendered.

Georgian tanks move at a road outside Tbilisi. A military mutiny in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia appears  to be "a somewhat isolated incident," a Pentagon  spokesman said Tuesday.(AFP/Vano Shlamov)

Georgian officials say the mutiny began on Tuesday. That's when about 500 members of a tank battalion stationed at a military base in Mukhrovani, about 30 kilometers from Tbilisi, announced they would refuse to follow orders.

The mutineers, however, later handed over their weapons and surrendered. The surrender came after the mutineers spoke with President Mikhail Saakashvili.

Georgia President Mikhail Saakashvili said, "I spoke to one of the organizers of this unrest and I told him that we give them an opportunity to come out to give in to the law enforcement bodies to disarm. And it will be taken into account as an extenuating circumstances."

Authorities say the mutiny was aimed at foiling planned NATO military exercises scheduled to begin on Wednesday in Georgia.

And that the general objective of the uprising was to topple the government with an armed revolt.