Excessive force is regulated in the Georgian Criminal Code by three distinct sets of norms: exceeding the necessary measures during the arrest of an offender, excess of official authority, and degrading or inhuman treatment. Together they form the legal framework against which the lawfulness of force used by a representative of authority or any other person is measured. For the victim, these norms are a legal instrument against unlawful force; for the defence, they allow the precise boundaries of liability to be drawn. The assessment of each episode depends on its concrete circumstances, which makes detailed legal analysis decisive in these cases.
Arrest of an Offender and Exceeding Necessary Measures
Article 29 of the Criminal Code governs the arrest of an offender: a person who, for the purpose of bringing an offender to an organ of authority, arrests him or her without exceeding the measures necessary for this purpose does not act unlawfully. Under the same article, exceeding the necessary measures for the arrest of an offender means an obvious disproportion between those measures and the gravity of the crime committed by the person to be arrested and the circumstances of the arrest. This criterion — proportionality — is the line that separates a lawful arrest from unjustified force: responding to a minor offence with severe force cannot qualify as a justified act.