A series of brazen homicides, including of a police officer this weekend, are sowing worries about a resurgence of crime in Georgia. So far, the Georgian government has played down the problem and accuses the opposition of alarmism. But the fact that the murders occurred in broad daylight, and that police, so far, have failed to bring the killers to justice are prompting concerns that Georgia’s much-praised police is losing its grip.
Although his identity is well known, the man accused of killing two police officers since January remains on the loose. The suspect, Shalva Abuladze, is a convicted criminal released amidst the amnesties initiated by the ruling Georgian Dream coalition.
The latest shooting of which he is accused took place on April 5 in a Tbilisi suburb during a document-check. One policeman was killed and the other badly wounded. Abuladze was tracked down by police the next day, but again allegedly opened fire and managed to escape.
Aware of public frustration with the situation, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili appeared on television on April 6 visiting the hospitalized police-offcer and the family of the slain policeman.
Relatives of the two killed policemen have laid blame on the amnesties, which released hundreds of prisoners allegedly convicted and incarcerated on insufficient evidence. The releases have been proving as controversial as the mass incarcerations by the previous Georgian government, under ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Worsening the general picture is a series of apparent contract-killings within Tbilisi; a crime that has not been characteristic of Georgia for quite some time. On March 23, in a prestigious downtown Tbilisi neighborhood, an individual riding a motorcycle shot dead businessman Besik Khardziani. In January, businessman Yuri Vazagashvili was killed by an explosive device planted on his son’s grave. Last year, media entrepreneur Erosi Kitsmarishvili was found dead in his garage; his family disputes the initial police-claim of suicide and suspects a hit job.
Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani admitted that an overview of the government’s crime-fighting strategy is due, but ruled out returning to the stringent policies of the Saakashvili era.
“The strategy for fighting crime should be reviewed, but we should not forget about human rights, while we are at it, to make sure that Georgia does not go back to the practice of zero-tolerance,” Tsulukiani commented to reporters on April 6.
Though it led to safer streets, Georgia's former so-called zero-tolerance policy was criticized robustly for alleged rights-abuses and brutal tactics by policemen. Videotapes of the harsh treatment allegedly doled out to convicts led to the parliamentary-election defeat of Saakashviili's United National Movement in 2012.
The UNM and other Georgians now argue that the Georgian Dream's more liberal police-policies have only led to increased criminal activity.
So far, no sign that the coalition thinks they might have a point.
“Let’s not over-dramatize the situation here,” said Georgian Dream lawmaker Zakaria Kucnashvili, commenting on the latest spate of murders.
Giorgi Lomsadze is a journalist based in Tbilisi, and author of Tamada Tales.
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