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On July 6, Telavi District Court sentenced G.B., accused of murdering his wife, to 14 years in prison. The judgment refers to the intentional murder of a young woman N.Ch. in Lagodekhi in January 2022 in her own home. The crime was committed by her ex-husband G.B. He was charged with a deliberate murder under aggravated circumstances namely for homicide under article 109(2)(f) of the Criminal Code. Accused person G.B. killed the woman in a house rented by the woman and tried to stage a suicide by natural gas. The murdered woman has three minor children now being in foster care of the family of her brother.

The legal interests of the successor of the victim were defended by the Kakheti office of HRC in the criminal case of the gender-related murder of a woman. HRC expressed a position from the outset of the investigation as the organization was concerned with issues of formulating the allegations and subsuming the crime, addressing the statement both to the investigator of the case and the Regional Prosecutor's Office of Kakheti. HRC was seeking by the petition to have the subsumption specified against the accused in murder and to intensify the allegations for the gender-related crime. Therefore, HRC called on the prosecution and investigation agencies to be particularly cautious of gender-related signs when investigating the current case and other cases in general, for this would allow for the prevention of such crimes and facilitate full and objective investigation of cases.

HRC believes the offense against killed N.Ch. is gender-related as this is intentional femicide. According to the evidence obtained during the investigation and the defendant's testimony, the gender-related motives of the crime are clear. All the evidence is available in the case files. 

Despite numerous appeals from HRC, the prosecution rejected all the attempts to have the statement of charges ascertained in a manner to mention a gender-related offense. Therefore, incomplete legal subsumption made it possible for the judgment to be rendered without underlining the gender-related motives. According to the judgment, G.B. shall serve his sentence in a psychiatric facility until full recovery, and then in a penitentiary facility.

Human Rights Center