Public Defender demands definition of femicide in law
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, December 14
The Public Defender of Georgia, Ucha Nanuashvili, has spoken about the “alarming statistics” of murders of females and demands that femicide be defined as a separate crime in the Criminal Code.
The Ombudsman says that domestic violence in Georgia this year has claimed the lives of 14 women.
Nanuashvili stressed that despite an increased rate of detention and response to domestic violence cases from state agencies, more efforts are needed to appropriately react to each case due to the size and severity of the issue.
The Public Defender believes that during the investigation a special attention should be paid to the fact that the violence or murder was gender-motivated.
“This initiative does not bring additional charges for murder or violence against women. The legislation should be Gender-sensitive and should define femicide as a separate crime, this is the aim of this initiative,” Ekaterine Skhiladze, the Deputy Public Defender stated.
Some lawyers believe the initiative will turn the legislation into a gender-sensitive law. The others believe the aim of the initiative is only the prevention of such crimes.
Lawyer Levan Alapishvili believes that without changing state politics in this field, the redefinition of gender-motivated crimes alone will not bring any results.
“We should demand from the state to change its politics towards the issue and to implement changes to the law,” said Alapishili.
Another lawyer, Lia Mukhashavria, approves of the initiative and says this does not mean any discrimination against men.
“The definition of femicide in the criminal code will help the investigation to better identify criminal motives,” she stated.
