Rape and Sexual Assault

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Actor Kevin Spacey. Image via social media.

Armenia

Outcry after Kevin Spacey named ‘guest of honour’ at Yerevan’s Golden Apricot Festival

by Arshaluys Barseghyan

•2 min read

The announcement that disgraced Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey would visit Yerevan as a guest of honour at the Golden Apricot Film Festival has sparked controversy in Armenia. The festival announced that Spacey would attend the festival on Tuesday, in a post describing him as ‘one of the greatest artists of both stage and screen not only of his generation but, according to many, of all times’. The post was later edited to read that Spacey’s visit was made possible ‘with the support of the fest

Police station in Lagodekhi Municipality. Photo: RFE/RL.

Georgia

Man paraded in dress through village in eastern Georgia over alleged sexual assault

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•2 min read

A man has been paraded in a dress through the streets by residents of a village in eastern Georgia for allegedly trying to sexually assault a relative. On Monday, the Prosecutor’s Office stated that three men had been arrested and remanded into custody for ‘humiliating’ and damaging the man’s ‘honour and dignity’. ‘The defendants, on the grounds that, in their opinion, the victim committed a disgraceful act, demanded that he perform a humiliating act by putting on women’s clothes. They threa

Stills from the video posted on TikTok in which Tornike Gulisashvili joked about raping women. The label on the bottle has been blurred.

Georgia

Tbilisi clinic defends nurse over ‘joke’ advocating date rape

by Shota Kincha

•2 min read

A medical clinic in Tbilisi has defended a member of staff who posted a video on TikTok in which he joked about raping women who did not want to have sex with him. Tornike Gulisashvili, an assistant nurse at the Aleksandre Aladashvili Clinic, posted the video in medical attire, seemingly shot in the clinic. The video begins with a grinning Gulisashvili and the caption, ‘She: I will never sleep with u’, after which he places a bottle of a prescription anaesthetic on the desk assertively as a ‘s

A demonstration against violence against women in Tbilisi Georgia. The wall says: ‘violence against women is a crime, stop it’.

Feature Stories

Consent not required: how Georgian legislation allows rapists to walk free

by Tata Shoshiashvili

•5 min read

While the definition of rape is commonly understood as having sex with someone against their will, Georgian legislation disagrees, making no reference to consent. In Georgia, saying no is simply not enough, and experts say victims of rape must prove that they physically resisted their attacker. ‘She woke up because she felt a terrible pain, which brought her to her senses. She was begging the man to stop; she did not have the ability or the strength to put up serious resistance. She could not

Feminist activist Gulnara Mehdiyeva holding a sign reading 'Why is a person who raped a minor still free?' Original photo by Sevgi Ismaylbayli.

Azerbaijan

After one year of inaction, alleged rapist of young Azerbaijani activist arrested

by Ismi Aghayev

•2 min read

Azerbaijani authorities have arrested a man accused of raping Sanay Yaghmur, a 17-year-old activist and the daughter of Azerbaijani writer Zumrud Yaghmur. The arrest, over a year after Yaghmur complained to police, came after a viral post by Sanay sparked outrage about the authorities’ inaction. Asgar Aghayev was arrested on the evening of 19 October while Zumrud Yaghmur was also summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office. On 12 October, Sanay Yaghmur, shared a post on social media detailing an al

Human Rights

Prison riot in Vladikavkaz over alleged torture

by OC Media

•2 min read

A prison riot has taken place at a penal colony in the North Ossetian capital, Vladikavkaz, over the alleged torture of prisoners. The Russian Federal Penitentiary Service stated that the protests on 15 October were suppressed on the same day, with a number of inmates transferred to penitentiary institutions in other regions. Local special police units were brought in to storm the facility. The Investigative Committee of North Ossetia has launched a probe into the riots. The riot erupted

Georgia

‘Systemic inaction’ to blame for suicide of 14-year-old alleged rape victim

by Shota Kincha

•3 min read

Georgian authorities have been accused of failing a 14-year-old girl who took her own life, allegedly after she was raped. The girl was found dead on Wednesday in the village of Kakuti, near Kobuleti, in the Autonomous Republic of Adjara. She was discovered by her grandfather, who told journalists that she was sexually assaulted last year and that she ‘was worried’ that police had not arrested her attacker. He also said that months after the initial attack, her attacker confronted her and ‘