Court remands man linked to Istanbul airport attack

By Davit Kachkachishvili

TBILISI, Georgia (AA) - A court in capital Tbilisi remanded a Georgian national in custody on Friday who was accused of aiding the mastermind behind the terror attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport in June 2016, according to a security source.

Suspect Zurab Idoidze had been arrested in Tbilisi on Jan. 9, the court said in a statement.

Idoidze was accused of aiding Akhmed Chataev who had been killed during a counter-terrorism operation in Tbilisi on Nov. 22 along with three other suspects.

Chataev, a Russian national of Chechen origin, had blown himself up while the other suspects were killed by security officers, according to a Georgian security agency.

The 37-year-old has been identified as the planner of the Daesh-linked attack on the airport that was carried out on June 28, 2016. The gun-and-bomb attack left 46 people and three attackers dead. More than 200 others were injured; a security officer was also martyred in the incident.

The statement also said Idoidze provided cell phones to Chataev and transported him from Turkey to the Georgian border.