Arrest, charge in case of forced marriage, murder of 14-year-old in Georgia’s east

The Prosecutor General's Office of Georgia on Wednesday announced law enforcement officers had arrested the uncle of a 14-year-old girl who was murdered on October 6 in eastern Georgia’s Sagarejo municipality by a man who had reportedly kidnapped her, while authorities also filed charges against the mother of the victim. 

The body said the law enforcement officers had arrested the victim's uncle on October 11 following a judge ruling, while Rustavi City Court near Tbilisi had rejected the Office’s request for the arrest of the mother.

The Prosecutor's Office charged both perpetrators with forced marriage and failure to report crime.

The investigation found the abductor had kidnapped the minor in the past summer and brought her to the village of Lambalo in the Sagarejo district, with plans to force the minor into an illegal marriage with him, the Office said. 

Despite the limitations to her free movement the minor managed to escape, contact her mother with a stranger's mobile phone and report her abduction, which also became known to the uncle of the minor.

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Although the minor's mother and uncle learned about the serious crime committed against the 14-year-old girl, they believed the minor did not have the right to express free will and make a choice, did not report the crime to the law enforcement authorities and forced the child to live with the abductor”, the body said.

The development was on Tuesday followed by police arresting a 27-year-old man wanted for the intentional murder of the 14-year-old. The crime is punishable by up to 20 years or life imprisonment.

The Prosecutor's Office said it was implementing the “strictest criminal law policy in cases of this category”, adding “all individuals” charged in the case would be “held accountable to the full extent of the law for the gravest crime committed”.