Azerbaijan’s Media Crackdown
Azerbaijani journalist Ulviyya Ali ‘threatened with rape’ by police in detention
Ulviyya Guliyeva (Ali) was detained on 6 May after covering the trial of imprisoned politician Tofig Yagublu.
Rape and Sexual Assault
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Azerbaijan
23-year-old man avoids prison in Azerbaijan after statutory rape of 13-year-old
The 23-year-old was given only a suspended sentence as the judge considered the birth of their child to be a mitigating circumstance.
Armenia
Outcry after Kevin Spacey named ‘guest of honour’ at Yerevan’s Golden Apricot Festival
The announcement that disgraced Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey would visit Yerevan as a guest of honour at the Golden Apricot Film Festival has sparked controversy in Armenia. The festival announced that Spacey would attend the festival on Tuesday, in a post describing him as ‘one of the greatest artists of both stage and screen not only of his generation but, according to many, of all times’. The post was later edited to read that Spacey’s visit was made possible ‘with the support of the fest
Georgia
Man paraded in dress through village in eastern Georgia over alleged sexual assault
A man has been paraded in a dress through the streets by residents of a village in eastern Georgia for allegedly trying to sexually assault a relative. On Monday, the Prosecutor’s Office stated that three men had been arrested and remanded into custody for ‘humiliating’ and damaging the man’s ‘honour and dignity’. ‘The defendants, on the grounds that, in their opinion, the victim committed a disgraceful act, demanded that he perform a humiliating act by putting on women’s clothes. They threa
Georgia
Tbilisi clinic defends nurse over ‘joke’ advocating date rape
A medical clinic in Tbilisi has defended a member of staff who posted a video on TikTok in which he joked about raping women who did not want to have sex with him. Tornike Gulisashvili, an assistant nurse at the Aleksandre Aladashvili Clinic, posted the video in medical attire, seemingly shot in the clinic. The video begins with a grinning Gulisashvili and the caption, ‘She: I will never sleep with u’, after which he places a bottle of a prescription anaesthetic on the desk assertively as a ‘s
Feature Stories
Consent not required: how Georgian legislation allows rapists to walk free
While the definition of rape is commonly understood as having sex with someone against their will, Georgian legislation disagrees, making no reference to consent. In Georgia, saying no is simply not enough, and experts say victims of rape must prove that they physically resisted their attacker. ‘She woke up because she felt a terrible pain, which brought her to her senses. She was begging the man to stop; she did not have the ability or the strength to put up serious resistance. She could not
Azerbaijan
After one year of inaction, alleged rapist of young Azerbaijani activist arrested
Azerbaijani authorities have arrested a man accused of raping Sanay Yaghmur, a 17-year-old activist and the daughter of Azerbaijani writer Zumrud Yaghmur. The arrest, over a year after Yaghmur complained to police, came after a viral post by Sanay sparked outrage about the authorities’ inaction. Asgar Aghayev was arrested on the evening of 19 October while Zumrud Yaghmur was also summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office. On 12 October, Sanay Yaghmur, shared a post on social media detailing an al
