(Tbilisi, August 20, 2003, Civil Georgia) – At the government?s meeting today President Shevardnadze said the law should be stricter in order to reduce crime rate in the country.
?If it were not the Council of Europe, we should not have banned death penalty. I see Rusudan Beridze [deputy secretary of the National Security Council for human rights issues] is looking at me with surprise. But now the criminals are not afraid any more of punishment. In old days [in the Soviet era] they [criminals] were even exiled to Siberia,? Eduard Shevardnadze said.
The abolishment of death penalty was the Council of Europe?s recommendation. !
Georgia joined the organization in 1999.
The State Security and Interior Ministers also said that the law should become stricter. ?President did not mean that the death penalty is necessary. He just stressed that the law must be very strict. And I do agree with him,? Interior Minster Koba Narchemashvili told the reporters after government?s meeting.
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