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.