Women’s Movement Requests Prohibition or Definition of Femicide in Georgia
By Tea Mariamidze
Tuesday, April 17
The Movement of Women has started a petition on change.org, requesting a prohibition or definition of femicide in Georgia.
According to the authors of the petition, the need for taking such a step is caused by the increased facts of murdering women.
“These killings are not like other killings. They were committed because the victims are women. Such murders are called femicide,” the petition reads.
The authors explain that during femicide the murderer believes this is a step to “punish” a woman for inappropriate behavior, or because they believe that “by murdering a woman the killer will restore his dignity.”
“Femicide is a discriminatory crime and it is not defined by the Georgian legislation. It is usually punished as other crimes,” the petition reads.
The signatories of the petition address the Parliament of Georgia to either define femicide or to adopt a special article about its prohibition.
“Femicide should be referred as gender-motivated crime and offenders should face the imprisonment up to 13-20 years; And in case of other aggravating circumstances, life imprisonment,” the statement reads.
The petition also addressed the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia (POG), saying before the enactment of the special article about femicide, the Prosecutor's Office should find out if the motive of murder was gender discrimination, in order to increase the efficiency of investigations.
As for the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA), the authors of the petition call on them to timely evaluate all possible risk factors in order to timely avoid femicide cases.
The statement also addresses the President of Georgia, calling him on not using the pardon authority for the offenses like femicide and other gender-motivated crimes.
