When Police Action Is Unlawful
Police misconduct means an act or omission by a police officer that violates the Georgian Law on Police and harms a person's rights. Article 9 of the law directly provides that the forms, methods and means of police activity must not violate human honour and dignity, must not infringe the right to life, physical integrity and property, or other fundamental rights and freedoms, and must not cause unjustified damage to the environment. In the exercise of police measures, torture and inhuman or degrading treatment are impermissible. These norms are universal and form the yardstick for interpreting any police action — detention, stops, identification or the use of force. Any deviation from them is simultaneously a ground for appeal and a ground for the officer's disciplinary liability.
The Proportionality Principle in Police Measures
Article 12 describes proportionality through three cumulative criteria. A police measure must serve the achievement of a legitimate aim. The chosen measure is suitable if it makes the achievement of that aim possible. It is necessary if no other means is available that would cause less harm in achieving the same aim, both to the addressee of the measure and to third parties. Finally, a necessary measure is proportionate if the harm inflicted on a legally protected good does not exceed the good it was carried out to protect. In addition, a police legal action must cease once its aim has been achieved or where it is evident that the aim cannot be achieved. If an officer's action fails any of these three tests, it is already a violation of the law and a ground for challenge. In practice, analysing a specific incident against each criterion separately is what determines whether the complaint has prospects.
Restrictions on the Use of Coercive Measures
Article 35 grants special protection to vulnerable groups. The use of physical force, special means and firearms is prohibited against persons showing apparent signs of pregnancy, minority, disability or old age. The only exceptions are cases where such persons are armed or attack in a group, or offer armed resistance to a police officer, creating a danger to the life or health of another person or the officer, and where repelling such attack or resistance by other methods and means is impossible. A further exception applies where the non-use of physical force and special means makes the performance of the police function impossible. A violation of these norms is a ground both for appeal and for the officer's disciplinary liability. Documentary fixation of the incident — injuries, witnesses, camera footage — is critically important, because in court the parties prove their positions with evidence.