Special Investigation Service set to create electronic registry for persons convicted of pedophilia, sextortion

Georgia’s Special Investigation Service will establish electronic registry and monitoring mechanisms for the individuals convicted of pedophilia and sextortion, the body said on Wednesday.

The Service noted that the initiative aimed to create a “safe environment” for children and juveniles and to prevent on-line cases of pedophilia, sextortion and blackmail with footage depicting private life.

Investigative practice shows that this crime in its various forms can affect any child or citizen who has access to the Internet. Criminals behind fake accounts, including extortionists with signs of pedophilia, easily manage to get close to children by deception, gain their trust, and then, having received their intimate footage, invade the children's privacy, which can be accompanied by sexual coercion, extortion, blackmail using video recordings of their private lives or other criminal acts”, the Service said. 

The Service stressed that convicts who had been found guilty of sextortion and other sexual offences against minors and juveniles, who had obtained and disseminated private life footage for mercenaries, and who had committed multiple instances of the same types of crimes or were committing these offences “repeatedly” would be monitored and have their rights “restricted”.

Various restrictive measures, such as the prohibition of living with a minor, not approaching an educational institution within a radius of 30 metres, taking away the right to transport passengers, carrying out medical and pedagogical activities, working as a social worker, and so on, will be applied to the persons convicted of the mentioned crimes”, the Service noted. 

Koka Katsitadze, the Head of the Special Investigative Service, said after leaving the prison, explained in detail what was meant under the initiative by saying that “persons with such mental disorders pose increased danger for the public, and therefore they must be subject to state monitoring”. 

The body added that the state monitoring included the obligation to report the convicted person to the investigative body at certain intervals, to check the convicted person on their residential and work addresses, to request information from them, and to carry out other preventive measures.

Katsitadze discussed the cases of pedophilia, sextortion and other related challenges with the heads of the Investigation Department Units. 

The officials also reviewed the project of the registry and monitoring mechanism of sex offenders prepared by the Analytical Department and cooperation plans with the Parliament of Georgia to implement the relevant legislative changes. 

The Investigative Service added that it would inform the public about legislative changes, the implementation of the registry, and the outcomes of monitoring. 

The body will “actively continue” to conduct informational meetings with minors and adolescents in schools and educational institutions for crime prevention.