THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: A 75-year-old woman arrested for single-handedly cutting off the internet in Georgia and Armenia has tearfully insisted she is innocent and had never heard of the internet.In a case that has attracted worldwide interest, pensioner Hayastan Shakarian is accused of forcing thousands of people in both countries offline for hours after hacking into a fibre-optic cable while digging for scrap metal.
But Shakarian, a Georgian of Armenian origin, told AFP that she was just a "poor old woman" who was not capable of committing such a crime.
"I did not cut this cable. Physically, I could not do it," she said, repeatedly bursting into tears as she spoke.
Ms Shakarian, who lives in the poverty-stricken Georgian village of Armazi, around 10 miles from the capital Tbilisi, said that she had only been collecting firewood.
"I have no idea what the internet is," she added. » | Monday, April 11, 2011
