The Head of the Special Investigative Service approved a guideline document on use of special protection measures for the victims of ill-treatment that entered into force from today. Koka Katsitadze together with his deputies and Investigative and Quality Monitoring Department representatives talked about the importance of the document and its active use in practice.

It is the state’s obligation to protect the victim of ill-treatment and ensure his/her safety in presence of threat. It increases the victim’s trust towards the investigative body. The victim must have all kinds of guarantees that in case of cooperation with the investigative body and revealing the abusive person, will not bein danger and will be protected by the state.

Based on the guideline document elaborated by the Service, in all criminal cases, the investigator of the Special Investigation Service will propose the potential victim to be included in a special protection program by mandatory engagement. In case of consent the service will assess risks due to a predefined criterion. If the investigation establishes that there are grounds for the use of a special protection measure, it will refer to the relevant agencies for the victim’s immediate involvement in a special protection program.

A special protection program ensures appointing a security guard for the victim, an alarm call, temporary change of residence or use of other security measures for the victim.

The elaboration of the guidance document was preceded by the amendments made to the law of Georgia "On the Special Investigation Service", according to which the service is authorized to assess the need of use of special protection measure for process participants. In case of existence of a relevant basis, the Deputy Head of the Special Investigation Service was granted the authority to apply to the Prosecutor’s Office with a reasoned proposal on use of the measure.

Before the approval the Special Investigation Service presented the mentioned document, to experts in the field, representatives of non-governmental sector and Public Defender’s Office for recommendations and discussion.

The Special Investigation Service actively continues its work to create additional guarantees for the protection of human rights and to establish the standards of the European Court those are important components for effective, objective and transparent investigation.