Policeman Charged with Domestic Violence will be Fired
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Monday, July 16
The Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia told lawmakers last week that if a policeman is charged with domestic violence, he/she will be automatically fired from the body.
“We adopted a decree on July 12 according to which, if policemen are charged with domestic violence, they will be automatically dismissed. We will treat the policemen as they deserve-the government will stand by honest police officers and dismiss those who commit crimes,” Gakharia said.
On July 10, the Interior Ministry reported that people phone police for domestic violence cases more frequently than in previous years, which was because of the raised awareness of the offence.
The ministry stated that between January 1 and July 1 the Interior Ministry launched investigation for 2,804 facts of family crimes and criminal prosecution was enacted against 1,933 individuals, which equals the full data of the previous year.
1,328 individuals have been detained over the past six months for family violence.
3,292 restrictive orders have been issued in the period, which is a doubled figure of the data from last year.
Cases of violation of restrictive orders are low, amounting to 7 percent of the whole figure and mostly concern the cases when violators come closer to victims.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs is combating against the family crimes not only outside its walls, but also inside the system, Deputy Interior Minister Natia Mezvrishvili claimed.
She stated that disciplinary sanctions were issued for 10 employees of the Interior Ministry. Four out of the ten were punished for not showing appropriate reaction to the cases of family violence, and six- for committing the family violence. Out of the six, three have been dismissed.
