Crime Climbs, Increasing Fears, Lessening Confidence towards the Government

“It is terrible. I never feel myself safe on the streets. I do not know what might happen any minute. But situation worsened especially in the recent times. Crimes have happened before too, but not at this scale and not so openly. What could be more terrible that to be afraid to let your child go out, because you don’t know if he make it back alive,” Maia Matetashvili, a Tbilisi resident, tells Civil Georgia.

Rising crime is on the mind of the lots of Tbilisites these days. Cases of mugging, robbery, murder, are reported on television and transmitted through the urban grapevine.

According to the official data of the Interior Ministry, crimes registered in January 2003 exceed the same data of the previous year by 32; Interior Ministry admits this is a significant increase. Unofficial data might be even more alarming.

The signs of rising criminality have already become a political matter. President Eduard Shevardnadze has accented the issue on February 24, saying the situation requires proper assessment and relevant strict response of the law enforcement agencies.

“Crime in Georgia is increasing, while it is supposed to be falling and this is absolutely unacceptable. The law enforcers should step up the fight against crime,” Shevardnadze said.

But the confidence of the people towards the police remains very low. “When we saw a policeman on a street [in Soviet times], we knew that he would protect us. But now policemen are the ones to be feared of. You will never know what trouble a policeman might cause to you. We all know how many people get arrested illegally,” Lali Gigilashvili, a Tbilisi resident, told Civil Georgia reflecting view, quite common in Georgia.

The law enforcers admit that the crime rates have been climbing recently, but they the journalists are to blame. “It’s just an informational background. It’s all because of you [the journalists]. You are exaggerating the facts. The real situation is not as bad,” Paata Gomelauri, spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, told Civil Georgia.

Gomelauri admitted that this year the crime situation has worsened, but he added that grave crimes have happened the previous years as well. “Let’s not forget how many kidnappings and burglaries had happened before. We did solve many serious cases. It is not right to blame our minister for everything,” Interior Ministry official said.

When the lack of confidence in each other’s motives is a rule of the day, conspiracy theories abound. Some opposition parties and civil organizations say the government tries to provoke public outcry for stronger law enforcement to overshadow the opposition calls for more democracy on the eve of the upcoming Parliamentary elections.

David Zurabishvili of the human rights advocacy NGO Liberty Institute told Civil Georgia says the increase of crime is deliberate. “All of this comes from the government. When the government releases a criminal from a jail  [referring to Temur Khachishvili, one of leaders of the paramilitary group “Mkhedrioni”, convicted in 1995 for organizing the terrorist acts and was pardoned last July] and this criminal establishes a political party [“Bear”], would you expect anything good to happen in such country? They are trying to pressure the people,” Zurabishvili says.

Zurabishvili says the government was quite capable to eliminate crime in 1995 when the gangs were ruling the country, as it helped to win the elections in a landslide. “Our president still prides himself of what was done that year,” Zurabishvili argues “So, it seems that what happens today suits the government’s current needs. It will keep escalating the tensions just to solve the situation again and create the call for stronger hand [in the country],” Zurabishvili said.

The Interior Ministry claims that the police do everything to improve the situation. Paata Gomelauri says there is a “confidential decree” of the President foreseeing the measures for curbing the crime. “I cannot disclose the contents of the decree. I just tell you that the decree is being implemented at a full scale,” Gomelauri told Civil Georgia.

Despite all these promising statements of the law enforcement agencies, the many people are very pessimistic. “In such times I will do anything to gather enough money to send my children abroad. In any other country they will be much safer than here,” Tbilisi resident Levan Frangishvili says.

By Tea Gularidze, Civil Georgia