Presentation of study – “Judgments in cases of femicide – 2014”

On April 4, 2016, the Georgian Young Lawyers Association held a presentation of the study “Judgments in cases of femicide – 2014”.

The aim of the study was to analyze the response of the prosecution and judicial bodies to cases of femicide committed in Georgia during 2014, through analyzing court judgments.

The 12 judgments of conviction that were analyzed as part of the study revealed that the acts of the judicial and prosecution bodies are fraught with significant flaws in identifying the crime of femicide, determining the motive of the crime, classifying the crime, identifying aggravating and mitigating circumstances, and imposing punishment on the perpetrator.

Therefore, it is necessary that the State take the following steps to eliminate the aforementioned deficiencies:

- Commission of a crime against a family member should be regarded as an aggravating circumstance;

- Commission of femicide/gender-related offense by a representative of public authorities and, especially, by a law enforcement official should be regarded as an aggravating circumstance;  

- The Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia should start collecting statistics of gender-related offenses;

- It is necessary to develop a detailed manual of methodology of investigation of gender-related offenses for investigation and prosecution bodies;

-  Judges should deliberate on the severity of femicides/domestic offenses committed by representatives of public authorities and, especially, by law enforcement officials and regard the commission of femicides/domestic offenses by the said persons as an aggravating circumstance;     

- The courts should deliver judgments for the commission of femicide in view of the general context of violence against women and their discrimination and subordination.

The study was conducted in the framework of the project “Raising public awareness and monitoring the state’s activities with the aim of combating femicide in Georgia”, with the financial support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Georgia.