injuries based on the person’s account. When describing injuries, they limit their entries to general
information under which the injury was inflicted and indicating these circumstances. However, the
origin of the injury and circumstances of sustaining the injury are not one and the same notions.
Doctors often establish consistency between physical signs of an injury and the origins indicated by an
arrested person so that they do not even have information about the specific origin of the injury.142
Based on the forms of medical examination that are filled in by TDI doctors in a faulty manner, it is
often revealed that doctors do not make any effort to obtain detailed and more credible information in
order to ascertain whether the circumstances indicated by an arrested person could cause the injury
concerned. This issue is particularly important in the context of a victim of ill-treatment. It is common
knowledge that victims of alleged ill-treatment belong to a vulnerable group, who – due to the inflicted
psychological trauma – are scared, helpless and not ready for a certain period to report and complain
about the crime committed against them.143
Also, similar to the previous years, TDI doctors document injuries on arrested persons in a faulty
manner. In particular, these are the following shortcomings found in the forms filled in based on
medical examination (the form is approved by Order no. 691 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of
Georgia of 8 December 2016 in accordance with the Istanbul Protocol): in some cases an alleged
violence is not assessed despite injuries found on the body – the respective column is left empty; there
are also occasions, when there are no entries regarding the origin of an injury and a doctor makes a
note about the consistency of an injury with its origin, etc.
As regards photographing injuries, in some TDIs (for instance in Kutaisi and Telavi TDIs) doctors
cannot take quality photographs of injuries. In general, no TDI keeps systematised photo materials.
It should be positively pointed out that compared to 2017, there are fewer cases in 2018, when multiple
injuries were found on an arrested person, including in the facial area and near eye-sockets but no
notification were sent to a prosecutor.144 In 2018, the Special Preventive Group identified 110 such
incidents (out of studied and statistically processed 508 cases).
Audio and video recordings – the Committee recommends the member states to ensure continuous
electronic (audio and/or video) recording of police interviews, which is one of the most important
142
For instance, an arrested person had injuries in the form of bruises in the facial area and it is explained that
injuries were sustained during working at home. A medical professional concluded in the documentation that the
described injuries and the arrested person’s account are consistent. It is unclear in this case as to how the doctor
assessed the link between the injuries and the origin of the injuries since there is indication as to what particular
work was done by the arrested person and with what object or under what impact the injuries were sustained.
143
Istanbul
Protocol,
Psychological
consequences
of
torture,
available
at:
https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/training8Rev1en.pdf, p. 46.
144Percentage indicator according to years is as follows: in 2017 – 30.1%, in 2018 – 21.6%.
56
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