Punishment for domestic violence in Georgia to be more severe

In Georgia, the punishment for domestic violence is going to become more severe.

When alerted of an instance of domestic violence, police will be obliged to immediately submit a restraining order against the alleged perpetrator. Moreover, individuals who are under investigation on domestic violence charges will be deprived of the right to carry weapons.

These and other amendments will be added to the law ‘On violence against women and/or the prevention of violence in the family, protection and help for victims of violence”.

The restraining order means that the accused may have several rights restricted – such as, he would not be allowed to appear near the victim’s workplace, or to go close to their place of residence or reach the victim on the telephone.

If one of these restrictions is violated, then the victim is responsible for informing the proper authorities.

According to the current legislation, the issuing of a restraint order is the service duty of a police officer and is given out according at the officer’s discretion. The new law will make the issuance of a restraining order obligatory.

The report of the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia for 2017 is given as an explanatory note for the bill. The report shows that there has been an increase in the number of cases of domestic violence and appeals to the police.

The statistics shows that:

In 2014, 550 criminal cases were launched for domestic violence.

In 2015 – 1,066;

In 2016 – 1,356;

And in 2017 – 1986.

The bill has been put forward by the Ministry of Justice of Georgia and the state has put it forward in parliament for examination. The organisation UN Women has been familiarized with the changes and positively assessed the bill. It is not impossible that the bill be included for discussion at the next parliamentary session on 21 March.