Briefing of the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Nino Tsatsiashvili
Effective fight against the domestic violence and providing respectful investigation, matching the interests of the victim, still remain among priority directions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Criminal justice policy against the abusers remains stiff.
Compared to 2018, the number of people addressing the police has significantly increased in 2019, indicating that public awareness and trust to the police forces has risen.
In 2019, investigation was launched with regard to more than 6000 criminal cases of domestic violence and domestic crime, while in 2018, criminal investigation was initiated on 5621 cases.
In 2019, as a result of coordinated work of structural units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Human Rights Protection and Investigation Quality Monitoring Department, along with General Prosecutor’s office, 4564 persons have faced charges on domestic violence and crime. Majority of them were detained whereas, in 2018, investigation was launched on 3955 cases.
In 2019, law enforcers issued 10 266 restrictive orders to protect victims of domestic violence, implying that the number of issued orders has increased by 34% compared to the data of 2018. (the number of restrictive orders issued on domestic violence cases amounted to 7646 in 2018 ).
As it is known to the society, for the effective prevention of violence, criminal responsibility for those violating the restrictive order has become stiffer, under the initiative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The mechanisms for assessing the risk of violence and restrictive order monitoring has also been enacted, making the restrictive order a real tool for victim protection. As a result:
• The number of violated orders has been reduced. In 2019, only 376 persons violated the restrictive order, which is only 4% of the general number. In 2018, the number of those who violated the restrictive order has reached 6% of the general number.
• In 2018-2019 no murder occurred during the validity time of the restrictive order.
• The rate of women murdered as a result of the domestic crime has decreased. As a result of domestic crime, 14 women were killed in 2016, 14 in 2017, 7 in 2018, and 7 in 2019.
• The number of family members brought to justice for inciting women to commit suicide or the attempted suicide has increased. In particular, in 2018 two family members were brought to criminal justice for inciting women to commit suicide or the attempted suicide, awhile in 2019 the number of persons brought to criminal justice reached 9.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs continues its effective fight against domestic violence. Under the initiative of the Ministry, in order to protect the victims of domestic violence from the repeated violence, the Parliament of Georgia is in the process of drafting amendments to the existing legislation, envisaging the possibility of electronic monitoring of abusers from the side of the police in case of real danger.
Despite steps taken by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and increased number of reports filed, there are victims who do not cooperate with the police, leading the offender to new cases of violence against women and usually to more serious offenses.
In order to protect victims effectively, it is important to empower each member of the society to become even more active. Therefore, we urge all victims, as well as those with information on violence, to provide police with the respective information regarding violence on time for enabling the law enforcers to take realistic measures to protect each victim.
