Legislation to combat organised crime passed by parliament
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Amendments to a law on combating organised crime and racketeering has been passed by the Georgian parliament.
Prepared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the amendment package specifies definitions of the terms: "criminal underworld”, "member of the criminal underworld”, "thieves-in-law”, and "criminal discussion”.
A ‘thief-in-law’ is a person who manages in any form and/or organises the activities of the criminal underworld or a certain group of criminal individuals.
‘Criminal discussions’ are assessments and evaluations of a situation between feuding criminal groups with the aim of resolving disputes in the criminal underworld.
Membership in the "criminal underworld” will now be punishable by imprisonment for 7 to 10 years. "Thieves-in-law” will be imprisoned for up to 15 years, while organisation or participation in "criminal discussion” – for seven to ten years.
Individuals informed about the activities of the "criminal underworld” and who support them will be imprisoned for 3 to 6 years. Those who appeal to "thieves-in-law” for "criminal discussion” will be imprisoned for 3 to 7 years.
The amendments to the law come in the wake of the recent arrest of four Georgian criminal bosses and 34 Georgian members of criminal groups in France and Greece on April 16-17 through cooperation with the Georgian Interior Ministry.
Law enforcement entities had been investigating the case for more than one year, according to the French media.
Four Georgian criminal bosses and 34 Georgian members of criminal groups were detained in France and Greece on April 16-17 through cooperation with the Georgian Interior Ministry.
Georgian law enforcers have detained a man wanted by Interpol since January 2017. Identified as E.Ch., the man was charged in Germany for keeping and selling of drugs.
Fifteen Georgians are among the 33 members of a Russian gang who were charged for alleged racketeering, fraud, narcotics, firearms, and stolen property offenses in the United States on Wednesday.
Georgia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs has stated they are involved in a large-scale anti-mafia operation in Madrid, Catalonia and several other locations in Spain.
The arrests come in the wake of the capture of four Georgian criminal bosses and 34 Georgian members of criminal groups in France and Greece on April 16-17 through cooperation with the Georgian Interior Ministry.
Four Georgian criminal bosses and 34 Georgian members of criminal groups were detained in France and Greece on April 16-17 through cooperation with the Georgian Interior Ministry.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has arrested six individuals on charges of ‘belonging to the criminal underworld’ in Zestaponi and Tbilisi.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has arrested six individuals for membership in the ‘criminal underworld’. Head of the Main Division of the Fight against Organised Crime Mamuka Chelidze said at today’s briefing that the detainees were involved in criminal activities supporting the 'criminal underworld'.
The Georgian Interior Ministry has detained three individuals for ‘membership in the criminal underworld’ and ‘requesting help from criminal bosses to settle a dispute’.
10 have been detained and one was charged with membership in the criminal underworld, the Georgian Interior Ministry has reported earlier today.
The Georgian Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor’s Office have detained 13 individuals in a joint operation for their membership in the criminal underworld, appealing to criminal bosses and illegal deprivation of liberty.
The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs launched a campaign on Tuesday to raise awareness against organised crime in the country.
“Know that the law protects you!” is the official motto of the campaign, which aims to raise public awareness on how to fight against organised crime and to increase public’s level of trust in police.