[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 104 (Tuesday, August 2, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 2, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                   HOW NOT TO FIGHT CRIME IN GEORGIA

 Mr. DeCONCINI. Mr. President, people who are even a little 
familiar with the country of Georgia speak of its striking physical 
beauty, legendary hospitality, and cultural achievements. Americans may 
not know, however, that in the Soviet Union, Georgian films always 
enjoyed a special reputation for artistry, both in drama and absurdist, 
surrealist comedy. I would like to share with my colleagues information 
about a recent development in Georgia that matches anything the most 
``far out'' Georgian cinematographer could conceive.
  Georgia has, of course, fallen on hard days, living through coups and 
civil war since the collapse of the U.S.S.R. It has suffered virtual 
dismemberment at the hands of Russian forces allied with Abkhazia, its 
economy is shattered, some 200,000 refugees from Abkhazia are enduring 
very difficult conditions, and, as in other former Soviet republics, 
crime has ravaged the entire country.
  In June, Russian President Boris Yeltsin issued a controversial 
decree on fighting crime, with some neighboring states, like Ukraine, 
has used as a model for their own edicts. Georgian leader Eduard 
Shevardnadze on July 14 also followed suit, developing a series of 
measures to address a ``criminal situation in the republic [that] still 
remains serious. Corruption, terrorist acts, banditry, other 
manifestations of organized crime * * * and the drug business are 
creating a serious danger for the state  * * *.''
  One of the anticrime measures in Georgia is the formation of a 
coordinating emergency commission under the chairmanship of 
Shevardnadze. A list of commission members printed in Sakartvelos 
Republika on July 14 revealed that one of the two deputy chairman is 
Jaba Ioseliani.
  Americans not familiar with this name, and the man behind it, should 
read an informative article on Mr. Ioseliani published in the British 
newspaper Mail on Sunday Review [April 3, 1994]. Georgia's chief 
negotiator with Abkhazia, he is a member of Georgia's parliament, a 
warlord, and the leader of Georgia's most notorious paramilitary group, 
the Mkhedrioni [Knights on Horseback], which looted the country and now 
controls many businesses. The author, who interviewed Ioseliani, calls 
him ``a notorious bank robber with a passion for killing. And Italian 
suits.'' Furthermore, his army ``appears to be involved in every 
business and racket in Georgia.'' In his younger days, Ioseliani was 
``one of the 20 most powerful men in the Soviet underworld,'' one of 
the bosses of bosses, as he himself acknowledged to the interviewer.
  The author concedes Ioseliani's roguish charm, notes that he has his 
admirers in Georgia, and that some people consider him a brave man and 
a patriot. Not knowing Mr. Ioseliani, I am not in a position to confirm 
or deny his allure. But I do know that making Jaba Ioseliani the deputy 
chairman of an emergency commission to fight crime is not only putting 
the fox in the chicken coop, Georgian-style, it simply makes a mockery 
of the very concepts of government and law enforcement. And it is a 
slap in the face of a war-weary Georgian people who live in fear of 
criminals.
  Even more worrisome is the extent of Ioseliani's power and influence 
over Georgia's politics. His interviewer concluded that ``It isn't hype 
to suggest that the destiny of this fragile, boisterous nation pretty 
much rests in his hands.'' If so, Mr. President, then we ought to be 
considering more carefully than we evidently have up to now our support 
for the regime of Eduard Shevardnadze. He may have no choice but to 
ally himself with Mr. Ioseliani. But should the United States support 
such a government?

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