Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697736405360.pdf (Georgia)
Prosecution Service Implements Harsh Criminal Justice Policy in terms of Domestic Violence Offenses, Confirmed by Significant Increase of Annual Prosecution Rate in Recent Years The Prosecution Service of Georgia implements a harsh criminal justice policy in terms of domestic violence offenses, which is confirmed by the significant yearly increase of prosecution rate since 2014.
In 2014, criminal prosecution was initiated against 550 individuals, while in 2021, criminal prosecution was launched against 5,144 persons.

As for the data of the first 8 months of 2022, criminal prosecution has been initiated against 4,591 persons.
The Rate of Initiation of Criminal Prosecution on Domestic Violence Offenses 550 1066 1356 1986 3955 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 (8 months) 4579 4633 4591 5144 In 2014-2021, the percentage of requests for detention by prosecutors as a measure of constraint against the defendants in domestic violence crimes was steadily increasing.

As for the first 8 months of 2022, the rate of requests for detention for domestic violence offenses has amounted to 88%.
The Rate of Requesting Detention in Cases of Domestic Violence Offenses 14% 26% 54% 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 (8 months) 83% 91% 92% 94% 91% 88% Percentage Dynamics of Requesting Detention in Cases of Domestic Violence Offenses 92% 94% 88% 91% 91% 83% 54% 14% 26 ( 2 2 0 2 ) s h t n o m As demonstrated by the statistics of initiation of prosecution and requests for measure of constraint, the Prosecution Service implements a strict criminal justice policy against perpetrators of domestic violence crimes, while no measures alternative to criminal liability and/or lenient criminal justice principles have been applied.
What is Femicide?

Femicide is a gender-based killing of a woman and its motive or context is associated with gender-based violence against a woman, discrimination, her dependent role, which is expressed through the desire of having rights over a woman, more privileged status than that of a woman, possessive attitude towards a woman, control over her behavior, etc.
Punishment for Killing of Women (Femicide) Significant amendments were made to the Criminal Code of Georgia in course of harmonizing the legislation after ratifying the Istanbul Convention.

Specifically, gender-based murder was determined as an aggravating factor and a harsh punishment was introduced.

A gender-based murder, as well as a murder of female family member, is punished by imprisonment for a term from 16 up to 20 years or life imprisonment.
There has been 186 femicide cases in 2014-2022; 92 women were murdered by their family members, while 94 cases of femicide were based on other motives.

129 cases of attempted femicide have been recorded during the same period; in 79 cases, women fell victim to attempted femicide committed by their family members, while 50 other cases the motive varied.
It is noteworthy that implementation of harsh criminal justice policy resulted in a reduced number of femicides and attempted femicides in 2014-2020; 2020 saw the rise in this regard, however, the number decreased again in 2021.

Due to the difficulties brought by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the cases of violence against women, domestic violence and femicide spiked globally in the context of lockdowns.
The UN Women report on “Impact of COVID-19 on violence against women and girls and service provision: UN Women rapid assessment and findings” states that the situation in 49 countries have been studied and an increase in reports violence against women and girls has been observed.1 According to the Red Cross Report on “Prevention and response to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in COVID- 19”2, in the context of residential confinement in the UK, the number of domestic homicides spiked, while a domestic abuse charity reported a 700% increase in calls to its helpline.3 In Canada, there was 20 to 30 per cent increase in rates of violence in some regions in the context of isolation measures.4 As the World Health Organization reported, violence against women tends to increase in any emergency, including epidemics.
Stress, disruption of social and protective networks, increased economic hardship and decreased access to services can exacerbate the risk of women suffering violence.5 Femicide / Attempted femicide 2014-2022 45 29 37 37 34 31 42 36 24 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 1 Impact of COVID-19 on violence against women and girls and service provision: UN Women rapid assessment and findings; https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/05/impact-of-covid-19-on- violence-against-women-and-girls-and-service-provision; 2 Prevention and response to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in COVID-19; https://www.ifrc.org/document/prevention-and-response-sexual-and-gender-based-violence-covid-19 3 https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/apr/12/domestic-violence-surges-seven-hundred-per-cent-uk- coronavirus 4 https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/domestic-violence-rates-rising-due-to-covid19-1.5545851 5 http://www.emro.who.int/violence-injuries-disabilities/violence-news/levels-of-domestic-violence-increase- as-covid-19-pandemic-escalates.html 33 Femicides 28 22 17 18 15 22 18 Attempted Femicides 15 16 16 20 18 12 12 13 ) s h t n o m 8 ( 2 2 0 2 11 ) s h t n o m 8 ( 2 2 0 2 It is also worth noting that only specialized prosecutors provide procedural guidance on the criminal cases involving femicide/attempted femicide.
Actions taken by the Prosecution Service of Georgia The Prosecution Service of Georgia started implementing reforms in terms of gender-based violence against women and domestic violence offenses in 2014, which was manifested in specialization of prosecutors, development of guidelines, a strict criminal justice policy and defining these offenses as a strategic area.
Similar to previous years, the 2022-2027 Strategy of the Prosecution Service of Georgia listed combating violence against women and domestic violence as a priority.

The Strategy mapped out certain activities.

The Prosecution Service of Georgia will continue its efforts and introduction of victim-oriented approaches in the coming years.
To implement best practices, two guidelines on “Providing effective procedural guidance on gender hate crimes” and on “Effective enforcement of decisions rendered against Georgia in cases of gender-based violence against women” had been developed for specialized prosecutors in 2022.

The Prosecution Service of Georgia is the first agency to introduce specialization in terms of violence against women and domestic violence.

For the time being, 209 prosecutors have been specialized.
Improving qualifications of prosecutors and having specialized prosecutors participate in international training courses is a priority to the Prosecution Service.

Continued monitoring of femicide cases and maintaining special statistics The Human Rights Department, Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia, monitors criminal cases of gender-based femicide, attempted femicide and incitement to suicide on a daily basis.
Since 2014, the Prosecution Service of Georgia has been maintaining statistics based on international standards and has analyzed femicide cases.

Within the scope of femicide monitoring, the Public Defender of Georgia, as well as NGOs and international organization rely on said statistical data.

The Prosecution Service of Georgia works on identifying gender discrimination as a motive in criminal cases and on implementing decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in practice.
In 2016, gender discrimination was identified as a motive in cases of 1,624 defendants in 2016-2022.

Gender discrimination was first identified as a motive in a femicide case in 2018, while up to this point, gender discrimination has been identified as motive in femicide cases against 45 defendants.
2 training activities have been held on the topic of gender-based femicides in cooperation with the Public Defender’s Office in 2022; 34 managers and specialized prosecutors have been re-trained and they provide procedural guidance on gender-based femicide cases.

In order to improve the legal framework, the Prosecution Service of Georgia has drafted a package of legislative amendments that propose to use electronic monitoring of defendants that have committed domestic violence offenses.
According to the proposed amendment, electronic monitoring system will be introduced, under which the behavior of persons charged with domestic violence offenses will be monitored 24 hours a day.

The use of electronic monitoring bracelets will be a significant safeguard for victims in cases where non-custodial measure of constraint is imposed on defendants.
In particular, introduction of electronic monitoring will provide an effective mechanism to control that the defendant complies with the prohibition to approaching the victim and will reduce the risks of repeated violence on the defendant’s part.

The Prosecution Service of Georgia maintains harsh criminal justice policy in terms of any occurrence of violence against women and every perpetrator will be punished to the maximum extent permitted by law.

Public’s active involvement, i.e.


reporting the very first occurrence of violence, is crucial in order for the law enforcement to respond effectively and prevent a grave crime.

The Prosecution Service is starting a large-scale anti-femicide campaign in September 2022 to increase public awareness and to prevent crime.
In the process, we express our readiness to cooperate with any public or non-governmental organizations, members of the public, anyone, who can contribute to the process of increasing legal awareness.