The Georgian Special Investigation Service has recently established a dedicated division. Division’s main objective is to protect the rights of victims of various crimes.
Many institutional reforms are being carried out to ensure transparent investigation and effectively protect victims’ rights. This dedicated division is also a step in this direction.
The special investigation service presented the 2023 activity report to the Parliament of Georgia which covered the activities performed by the agency. The report further analyses the reforms the Special Investigation Service implemented to protect citizens’ rights.
The main objective is citizens’ access to case materials, including victims and witnesses in the special protection program and establishing the Division for the Protection of Victims’ Rights.
As per the information until 2022 citizens who applied to the investigative service for different services did not have access to criminal cases, including the right to read expert reports and information provided by witnesses. Citizens were allowed to enjoy the rights mentioned only after creating a special investigative service which represents the best model of transparent investigation.
The employees of the newly created division for the Protection of Victims’ Rights provide detailed information on the rights and duties of the affected citizens, including the applicants, psychological support, familiarisation with the case materials, and special protection programs, and organising the process of familiarisation with the case materials for the representatives of the Office of the Public Defender of Georgia daily.
The service agnecy has proactively provided opportunity to 471 applicants to familiarise themselves with the materials of the criminal cases. Of these 471 243 applicants or their defence lawyers took advantage of this right.
The effective work of the Department for the Protection of Victims’ Rights and accordingly the involvement of the victim and the applicant in the investigation process along with their awareness, significantly increased the citizens’ confidence in the investigation’s results.
The representative of the Special Investigation Service said the agency will continue to implement reforms focused on protecting citizens’ rights in the future.
The 2023 report of the Special Investigation Service is available on the service’s official website, which anyone can visit to read the report in detail.
