Russia Charges Georgian Legislator In Absentia

Givi Targamadze

Russia's Investigation Committee says a Georgian member of parliament, Givi Targamadze, has been charged in absentia with organizing mass disorder in Russia.

A committee spokesman said Targamadze will be put on a wanted list.

The spokesman said Targamadze was charged after Russia received documents from Georgia saying that Targamadze does not enjoy parliamentary immunity.

In October, a pro-Kremlin television channel aired a documentary claiming that Targamadze met with Russian opposition activist Sergei Udaltsov to plan riots in Moscow.

After the film was broadcast, Udaltsov and two other opposition activists, Konstantin Lebedev and Leonid Razvozzhayev, were charged with organizing a violent antigovernment protest in Moscow's Bolotnaya Square in May.

The three men, along with Targamadze, have denied the charges.

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS