Assault Victim Representation — the Advocate's Toolkit
An assault places its victim in several roles at once in dealings with the court and the investigation: a witness to the event, an injured person, and simultaneously someone who must defend their own rights in a process that often begins with an investigator's questions and medical examinations. This page explains what an advocate may do in representing you, on the basis of Articles 4 and 6 of the Georgian Law on Advocacy Activity. The former establishes the advocate's rights; the latter defines the range of means by which the advocate protects the client's interests. Questions of charges arising from an assault are explained on other pages; what is addressed here is precisely the victim representation service.
Representation and Defence at Every Instance
Under subparagraph "a" of the first part of Article 4, the advocate is entitled to represent and defend the client, the client's rights and freedoms before constitutional, supreme and common courts, arbitration, investigation bodies, and other physical and legal persons. For an assault victim this means that a single representative accompanies you through every instance of the process — from the investigation stage to the supreme court. The advocate's activity may be restricted only by law — a guarantee stated in the second part of the article — meaning that neither a state body nor a private person determines how the advocate protects your interests.
Obtaining Documents and Factual Data
Under subparagraph "b" of the first part of Article 4, for the purpose of protecting the client's interests, the advocate demands and receives, in the procedure established by legislation, the documents, certificates and other factual data necessary for advocacy activity. In an assault case this often concerns medical documentation, protocols, descriptions of video recordings and persons' statements — material to which the victim personally frequently has no access. The advocate's correct and timely demand for this material often determines whether the factual circumstances remain in the case file. If the case is already in court, the same right operates through the requests of the court proceedings.