Two days ago Georgia passed one more very important test of democracy and its statehood. Local elections demonstrated success of our society and statehood in several different directions:

First of all, we all saw how the political spectrum is refined... If during the previous elections people listened to the politicians cursing one another, now the candidates and parties managed to discuss business between one another, discuss the real problems of our society, discuss the specific programs and promises.

These elections showed us how much our society has matured and how it has been refined regarding democracy: if in the past the election campaigns and especially Election Day was characterized as violent and hysterical exaltation (most probably all of us remember that 6-7 years ago pre-election meetings turned into the battlefield, fighting in the election stations was a usual thing to do, there was shouting, kidnapping of election boxes, sometimes even shootings took place), now the pre-election campaign and especially the election day was held in a very calm and constructive atmosphere.

For the first time in the history of our young democracy the debates between the candidates were aired on TV. All the candidates and parties were given a chance to directly communicate their messages to the public. Today, when there is not such calm political atmosphere, on the background of sharp political challenges and polarization, our society showed that they can make a decision on the future course of their own country with cold mind and serious sense of responsibility. Besides, these elections showed us how much the state apparatus has been refined. It showed us how high it stands in keeping stability, peace and democratic development of our society. Each of us saw several times already that despite many attempts to somehow interfere with this process, Georgia has a well organized, functioning state apparatus, which represents firm and promising basis for the development and statehood of our country. In one word - what we saw several days ago represents one more example of progress and movement towards European civilization.

But we all know that there is no civilization and no progress without Rule of Law. We all know that the only fertilizer that gives our statehood fruitful harvest is legality and fair atmosphere.

Today I am at the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia and I want to state that if something made Georgia become a country without criminal and injustice and today represents an absolutely accomplished state that seeks democratic development, first of all it is the merit of incredible work and outstanding devotion of our Law Enforcement system and the employees of our Prosecutor's Office.

The reason why we gathered here today is to sum up the work and the results that were achieved by Prosecutor's Office during last several years. I want to tell you honestly that this meeting was planned to be held several days ago, but I personally asked to arrange this meeting today, when elections were already held, in order not to give people the reason to say that this meeting was nothing else, but our PR event.

But no one can doubt that one of the reasons why Georgian society supports the course of development so actively is that our people remember very well Georgia 6-7 years ago.

All of us remember how the criminals ruled our country.

All of us remember that "thieves in law" represented the highest body of justice.

All of us remember the epoch of bandits, when families were permanently frightened, because these bandits could attack them any time.

All of us remember how the state servicemen were robbing the society.

All of us remember empty streets free of cars, how the cars left outside the garage disappeared in seconds and even garages were not enough for the security.

All of us remember kidnappings and murders. All of this was part of our lives.

In those times Georgia was considered to be in the torrent of injustice.

But the Rose Revolution brought new blood, new generation into the Law Enforcement system that simply refused to surrender to the crime.

Many of them were young and inexperienced. They were ready to fight with injustice. I see the majority of them here today, but today you are experienced, firm servicemen, with much more sense of responsibility and what is most important with huge professional potential.

You are now proud of not only what you believe in and what you serve, but you are proud of your achievements and your professional results.

The results are as follows: about four years ago - in 2006 we were discussing the issue of decreasing crime by several times in most of the cases compared to 2003. Those results sounded unbelievable and it was already considered as huge success.

Today I want to compare 2006 to 2009 and offer you several data:

Intentional homicide: 2006 - 403; 2009 - 213 (almost a half);

Larceny: 2006 - 27,657; 2009 - 12.672 (a half)

Thievery: 2006 - 2751; 2009 - 1064 (almost three times less);

Robbery: 2006 - 2160; 2009 - 677 (three times less);

In 2003 we declared that we would make Georgia free of "thieves in law". Many people got mad on us; many considered it was unachievable utopia. Thieves then really had huge influence and it required a lot of efforts to start fighting against them and it was impossible to measure it by any statistics but devotion and sacrifice. This is why in 2006 we made a revolutionary addition to our Constitution by which we gave the Prosecutors the most effective legal tool in order to make the revolutionary changes against the world of "legal thieves".

After the activation of this Law until today 144 "thieves in law" have been arrested. Other thieves left Georgia forever and went to live abroad. Today our country is a zone free of "thieves in law" and this is the merit of you and the Georgian Police.

We speak a lot about the Rule of Law and equal treatment, earlier this phrase was considered as a bitter irony, because we lived in a country, where there lived "untouchable" people: high-ranking officials and their close friends, no matter what type of crime they committed, no one would arrest them. We faced this type of injustice on every step. Contemporary Georgia considers one of the fundamental principles of its development that any person, no matter what is his position, no matter how rich is he or how influential his friends are, is equally responsible before the law like any other citizen of Georgia.

It is your merit that we have the digits that reflect the results of your work: 

Starting from 2003 until today - the statistics of former or active high officials who were convicted for various crimes is as follows:

15 Ministers, 15 Deputy Ministers, 6 MPs, 24 Members of the City Council, 5 Chairmen of the City Council, 5 State Representatives, 93 Heads of Administration, 31 Deputy Heads of Administration, 6 Mayors, 6 Vice Mayors, 277 Custom employees, 213 Taxation Office employees, 261 other state servicemen. These digits do not represent only statistics. This is the Rule of Law in the development process; this is the sense of justice for regular people; this is the warranty that a high official would never think of abusing his rights. This is zero compromise to corruption. It is impossible to provide successful development of economy and society without it.

The Georgian Law Enforcement system is an exceptional system. The main driving factor of its success is that it never shelters crime inside the system, never tolerates the colleague, who betrays the dignity of its uniform.

The proving fact of it is yesterday's anti-corruption act, when the Judge, the Prosecutor and the Attorney were arrested for corruption.

Starting from 2003 until today 1064 Policemen, 109 Investigators, 20 Prosecutors and 30 Judges were arrested. 

According to the philosophy of our government the beaurocracy must not be artificially increased. The government must be small and active. I do not want to make you tired with all these statistics, but with the background of so much success, we must underline the fact how much the effectiveness of Prosecutor's Office is increased. In 2003 when criminals used to rule this country, 763 Prosecutors worked in the Prosecutor's Office, today the number doesn't exceed 2388. In 2003 we had 274 Investigators; today we have only 42. The number of employees is 638 instead of 1504. We have hundred times better results and three times less employees.

Today, when we make first steps of democracy and statehood, our country is facing huge challenges. We have a long way to go, until Georgia becomes an absolutely European country, with secured borders and calm atmosphere of development.

Before that we have to overcome many obstacles, as a country and nation. We have to gain much more knowledge and many exams to pass. But nothing can stop our progress if we secure the major thing - the Rule of Law, justice and fighting against corruption, crime and criminal mentality - if we continue self-cleaning and self-refinement, in the conditions of contemporary management and high-effective organization.

You have huge responsibility in securing Georgian statehood and development.

And I can read on each of your faces that you are proud of this responsibility.