On March 28, during the protest rally outside the Parliament of Georgia, one of the leaders of the “Coalition for Change,” Elene Khoshtaria, was detained by the police under an administrative procedure. From the detention isolator, she released a statement claiming she was subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment at the time of her arrest. According to her statement, female police officers handcuffed her hands behind her back, and subsequently, several police officers used force to strip her completely, which she describes as extremely humiliating and degrading.
In her April 1 statement, Elene Khoshtaria said that journalists from the government propaganda media outlets “Rustavi 2” and “Imedi” persistently demanded that she answer whether she consented to the publication of footage of the violence carried out against her. This constitutes continued psychological abuse and an attempt at re-traumatization of a victimized woman. Such psychological pressure is aimed at intimidating the victim by suggesting that footage of her humiliating treatment could be published without her consent, for propaganda purposes, which has happened repeatedly in the past.
Notably, under the internal regulations of the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ temporary detention isolators, it is prohibited to demand a complete strip search of a person. During a search, it is only permissible to view or remove individual parts of clothing. Such a procedure may take place only behind a partition/curtain and may not be recorded on surveillance cameras.
According to international standards regulating the treatment of detained persons—such as the UN and the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) standards—a full strip search, especially of detained women, constitutes degrading and humiliating treatment. It must never be conducted routinely, and only under exceptional, legally and factually justified circumstances may a detainee be required to remove certain articles of clothing. In such cases, the detainee’s dignity must be respected.
It should be noted that several women (including Kristine Botkoveli, also known as Nancy Volandy, and Nutsa Makharadze) have publicly spoken about being forced by the police to fully undress and do squats after their arrest. They described this process as extremely humiliating, demeaning, and intimidating.
Recall that, following arrests during pro-European protest rallies (both on the spot, as well as during transportation and at police stations) in November and December, numerous women publicly spoke about threats of rape, sexual harassment, and physical retaliation by the police. None of the police officers have been held accountable for these incidents.
Evidence suggests that an unlawful practice is taking place against individuals detained at rallies, including women—being forced to completely undress or do squats—contrary to both Georgian legislation and international standards. The accounts of victimized women, as well as the scale and intensity of this practice, indicate that humiliating and degrading treatment has been used against women as a means of political repression, persecution, intimidation, and subjugation.
We also clarify that male detainees transferred to the temporary detention isolators and penitentiary institutions have reported similar practices. However, for women, such treatment is even more traumatic and degrading. Despite statements from the Public Defender and human rights organizations over the years, the authorities have denied the existence of full strip-search practices, claiming instead that complete undressing was voluntary and that alternative methods of examination were used.
We advise women that if you are arrested and transferred to a temporary detention isolator, you should be aware of the following:
- Your personal search must be conducted by a person of the same sex.
- It is prohibited to fully strip you during a personal search.
- In the event that certain body parts need to be examined (for instance, in cases of checking for injuries), this must not occur under surveillance cameras.
When women are transferred to a temporary detention isolator:
- They must be held separately from male detainees.
- Any woman placed in pretrial detention must be provided with hygiene products.
Anyone placed in a temporary detention isolator has the right to request:
- Contact with a lawyer.
- Contact with the Public Defender’s hotline (1481).
- Contact with the Special Investigative Service’s hotline (199).
The isolator administration is obliged to ensure that you can make these calls.
Finally, we inform the public that, according to Elene Khoshtaria’s statement, several identified police officers—Nino Chkhartishvili, Salome Lashkhia, Davit Bolotashvili, and others—took part in the violence against her.