FBIS3-24197
"jpusr028___94036"
FBIS-USR-94-028
Document Type:JPRS
Document Title:
FBIS Report: Central Eurasia
5 February 1994
RUSSIA
REGIONAL AFFAIRS
Tyumen Law Enforcement Officials Meet Press
944F0403B Tyumen TYUMENSKAYA PRAVDA in Russian 5 Feb 94 p 1
944F0403B
Tyumen TYUMENSKAYA PRAVDA
Language: Russian
Article Type:CSO
[Article by V. Grachev: "Not That Bad?"]
[Text] The heads of oblast law enforcement agencies had a
meeting with journalists last Wednesday at the suggestion of the
oblast administration.
I have to say right away that I do not share the skeptical
views of some of my colleagues with regard to this gathering. It
is true that the specific purpose of the press conference was
absolutely obvious: Deputy Administration Chief Valeriy Bagin,
who conducted the press conference, frankly admitted that the
crime rate is rising, but the public must not lose all hope. Law
enforcement agencies are doing their job in spite of all
obstacles and are adapting to the new conditions. Criminals do
not feel as unconstrained as some news programs have suggested.
It seems to me that this is a valid statement. The reason
for
the rising crime rate is not the unsatisfactory performance of
the police, the courts, or the procuracy. The main cause is the
steady disintegration of the economy and all the foundations of
our daily life. The personnel of the police force, the courts,
the procuracy, and other law enforcement agencies that did not
leave, in spite of all inducements, and move into the
comfortable offices of commercial structures--where everything
is peaceful and where the pay is much higher--might deserve more
respect today than anyone else, in spite of all the remaining
problems, in spite of the fact that people feel the need to hide
behind iron gates, and in spite of the fact that "every flock
has its black sheep."
The statements at the press conference were reserved: The
situation is still under control, thank God, and has not reached
the point of total chaos and lawlessness. Furthermore, there
have been some successes: Several homicides that were "pending"
for several years were recently solved, the organizers of the
recent notorious and bloody fights between mafia clans were
exposed and arrested, and the invaluable canvases of the Russian
old masters that had been stolen from the Tyumen Art Gallery
were recovered. Even the president heard about this case. The
devastated service for the prevention of economic crime is being
revitalized to some extent.
It is extremely difficult to do this work today. As I look
through my notes, the following details stand out: Viktor
Simonov, administration chief in the State Trade
Inspectorate--subjected to intense psychological pressure by
criminal gangs during inspections of commercial stores, around
90 percent of which are paying protection money to racketeers.
Valeriy Borisov, chief of the regional administration for action
against organized crime--identified more than 100 criminal gangs
and broke up over 30 of them last year. The gangs are
well-organized: They have power structures, fighting forces, and
economic divisions for the "laundering" of money, the
organization of credit operations, and so forth. Last year the
regional administration solved more than 400 serious
crimes--homicides, cases of extortion, and racketeering.
Veniamin Basharin, chief of the oblast internal affairs
administration: The criminals feel invulnerable. They commit
murders here and then go abroad--to Kazakhstan, Georgia, or
Armenia. Ten people were arrested in connection with the mafia
clan warfare and two are still at large. The main culprit--a
professional hired killer--was "brought to light" in Kazakhstan,
but our request for his extradition led to a whole series of
other events. It took the threat of road blocks on all
highways--so that not one vehicle carrying lumber or anything
else could reach Kazakhstan--before the murderer was finally
turned over to us. Our neighbors in Sverdlovsk Oblast also
experienced bloody confrontations and have not found the guilty
parties yet. In the words of V. Basharin, the present
irresponsible behavior of some citizens is interfering with the
performance of police work: People cannot be arrested for
vagrancy. They do not have to work if they do not want to. They
are free to make their own choices, but this is a breeding
ground for criminals. Witnesses are another big problem. They
are completely unprotected by the state and the law and are
intimidated and threatened. People are afraid of saying
anything, and criminals escape responsibility for crimes because
of a lack of evidence. There are many other problems as well,
but the number of solved crimes was nevertheless higher than in
1992 in some areas. V. Belyayev, chairman of the oblast court:
Legal protection should not depend on attendant circumstances,
but it does. Judges are not the problem: They will work as many
hours as they have to. The problem is the shortage of jurors.
People do not want to serve on juries. By law, their place of
employment pays them the average wage for the time they spend in
court, and who wants that? There are not enough auxiliary
personnel in the courts, no process servers, no gasoline, no
vehicles or guards to bring the criminals to court, etc.
Witnesses cannot be called because people are afraid.
That is the situation in our law enforcement agencies today.
As I have already said, however, they are still doing their job.
They have finally begun taking action against people who take
bribes: Last year they investigated 146 cases of bribery. The
figure is not that high, but at least there has been some
progress. They prevented 120 crimes connected with forged bank
remittance notes during the year, saving 46 billion rubles.
Someone asked when the agencies would restore order in the
market: The prices there, after all, are being set by the market
mafia. Simonov replied that the market is a matter of constant
concern to the State Trade Inspectorate. Prices drop as soon as
the inspectors arrive, but the next day they are raised again.
Basharin said that a special office of the internal affairs
administration had been opened to take charge of the market, and
he assured the press that order would be restored. All of the
same problems still exist: There are no witnesses to testify.
People either do not want to get involved or are simply afraid.
Nevertheless, the situation in the market will get better. The
registration of "foreigners" from the former fraternal
republics, who are largely responsible for the present situation
in the market, should be a big help. Those who behave
unscrupulously run the risk of losing their licenses, and that
does have an impact.
There were understandable questions about the amnesty. In
view of the present crime wave, no one at the press conference
was in favor of this. The prognosis was that this would cause
more outbreaks of criminal behavior and that things would get
worse.
There were many other questions as well. Some of the answers
were reassuring and some were not. The law enforcement officials
agreed to hold regular press conferences. I had the idea that it
might be best to arrange for televised conferences of this kind
once or twice a month for the whole oblast population, so that
the people who have locked the iron gates of their homes can see
that they can rely on the services of the police force, the
courts, the procuracy, the trade inspectorate, and even the
former State Security Committee, now renamed the
Counterintelligence Committee, all of the individuals entrusted
to combat corruption, the illegal drug traffic, and the theft of
our national resources. They could take a look at these people
and ask them--if they have a telephone--whatever they want to
ask them, and find out what lies ahead. What bothers the people
most, after all, is the uncertainty and unpredictability of
events and the extremely depressing suspicion that the state and
its law enforcement agencies have simply forsaken all of us.
Mutual understanding is a great achievement, especially at a
time of crisis.