Immunity Waived For Diplomat Involved In Fatal D.C. Crash

WASHINGTON - In a rare move, the Republic of Georgia lifted immunity for the second-ranking diplomat in its Washington embassy, clearing the way for his arrest in a fatal car crash, the State Department said yesterday.

George Makharadze could be charged with crimes reportedly as serious as involuntary manslaughter in the death of 16-year-old Joviane Waltrick.

Makharadze's car slammed into the back of another car in Northwest Washington on Jan. 3. The impact sent the second car into the air and on top of a third vehicle, in which Waltrick was a passenger. She died at an area hospital soon afterward.

Police said that Makharadze had been drinking and that he appeared to have been traveling 80 mph upon impact. He was not given a blood-alcohol test because of his diplomatic status, investigators said.

"This is an unusual case," State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said. "There are very few instances in diplomatic history where a government has lifted diplomatic immunity in a case like this, where the charges are so serious."

At the crash site yesterday, Viviane Wagner, the girl's mother said, "Immunity is not impunity. . . . Was it necessary for my daughter to have left for people to understand?"

Wagner, a Brazilian immigrant, has campaigned since the accident to force a decision in the immunity case.

Wagner called Georgian President Edward Shevardnadze "a man of courage" for waiving Makharadze's diplomatic immunity, and the United States "a country of justice." Last month, Shevardnade ordered Makharadze to remain in the United States until authorities completed the investigation.

The next step in the legal process facing Makharadze is for the Justice Department to file formal charges, Burns said. The State Department will transmit Georgia's official notification to the Justice Department on Tuesday, he said.

The Republic of Georgia receives hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from the United States, but Makharadze is a popular figure there, and many Georgians had called on the government there to protect him with immunity.

"It was touch-and-go for a few weeks," said a U.S. official familiar with the case. "We were hoping the (Georgian) government would cooperate, but our hands were tied until they officially waived diplomatic immunity. That isn't granted very often."

The last such waiver was granted in 1989, when a driver for the Belgian Embassy was arrested in Florida in the killing of two men. Rudy Van Den Borre, then 26, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

Robert Bennett, an attorney representing the Republic of Georgia, said Shevardnadze had "taken the high moral ground" in waiving Makharadze's immunity and asked that prosecutors do the same.

Paul Perito, Makharadze's personal attorney, said that the diplomat was informed of the waiver decision yesterday and that he plans to cooperate with authorities.