The Special Investigative Service held a two-day working meeting in order to elaborate a guideline document on issues of qualification of torture and ill-treatment crimes

The Special Investigative Service within the framework of the joint initiative "Human Rights for All - Phase 2" together with the European Union (EU), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) held a two-day working meeting in order to elaborate a guideline document on issues of qualification of torture and ill-treatment crimes.

Koka Katsitadze, the Head of the Special Investigation Service, and Vladimir Shkolnikov, the Head of the United Nations Human Rights Commissioner for the South Caucasus, addressed the participants of the meeting with a welcome speech.

"The purpose of the meeting was to review one of the core functions of the Service, which is related to the investigation of crimes of ill-treatment. We are cooperating with the Special Investigations Service and monitoring its work, as it has been some time since we advocated for such a service. We understand that the Service has certain challenges, as the investigation of crimes committed by law enforcement officers is always a sensitive issue" - said Vladimir Shkolnikov.

During the two-day meeting, the principles of qualification of official misconduct and ill-treatment were discussed. The discussion concerned precedent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) regarding ill-treatment, as well as the theoretical and practical issues of torture, the threat of torture, humiliation or inhuman treatment and exceeding official authority, and coercion to provide an explanation or evidence.

Also, in order to ensure effective investigation of crimes under the jurisdiction of the Special Investigation Service, it was planned to elaborate a guideline document of separation on qualifications.

"The guideline document will give the investigators of the Special Investigation Service the opportunity to determine qualifications of ill-treatment cases quickly and correctly, as possible” - said Levan Kutateladze, the Head of the Quality Monitoring and Analytical Department of SIS.

Employees of the Special Investigation Service, representatives of the Public Defender’s Office of Georgia, the General Prosecutor's Office and the civil sector attended the meeting.