Seven people arrested in Georgia in connection with kidnapping of girl

Security forces detained two people in Marneuli who participated in the kidnapping of a girl for marriage against her will, and five more who knew about the kidnapping but did not contact law enforcement agencies.

Seven people were detained in the Marneuli municipality in connection with the kidnapping of a 20-year-old girl for marriage against her will, the Novosti Georgia agency reported with reference to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The investigation established that 29-year-old E.A., with the assistance of 43-year-old Sh.S., "motivated by intolerance towards the equality of men and women," illegally deprived the girl of her freedom in order to marry her off. The police managed to quickly find the kidnapped woman after the family contacted the security forces. E.A. and Sh.S. were detained as defendants. Four people who knew about the crime but did not report it to the police were also arrested. The investigation is being conducted under articles on illegal deprivation of liberty by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, coercion and failure to report a crime (clause "a" of part 3 of Article 143, Article 150 and Article 376 of the Criminal Code of Georgia). The kidnappers face 7 to 10 years in prison.

In March 2018, a conference was held in Tbilisi, the participants of which indicated that law enforcement agencies ignore women's complaints of violence. In particular, according to the "Human Rights Center", in response to the school principal's appeal about the engagement of a 16-year-old student, the police said that there was no crime in forcing a minor into marriage.

In the case of child marriages, the rights of both sexes are violated, but with girls there are many more difficulties - almost always, marriage completely excludes their participation in public life. Girls are isolated from family and friends, in most cases they are forced to drop out of school, they find themselves in a more difficult economic situation in the event of pregnancy and often become victims of domestic violence, according to the article "How early marriages lead to tragedies in Georgia", published on the "Caucasian Knot". Also on the "Caucasian Knot" the material "Early marriages in Georgia: tradition or bad habit?" was published.

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