How to complain if you believe that you have been a victim of hate speech?
As a victim of hate speech you have several ways to remedy the harm done to you by such expressions. Most commonly hate speech will be investigated in criminal proceedings, but in addition to that you can also bring a civil claim for compensation.
Complaints to the disseminator
In certain cases, it may be sensible to contact the disseminator of the hate speech, for example, by reporting instances of hate speech that you see on social media to the platform itself. This is especially relevant if you are not a direct victim of hate speech and are not willing to seek the initiation of criminal proceedings.
It is also important to assess whether the platform responsible for hosting or disseminating the hate speech, should also be liable. If the platform refuses to remove instances of hate speech, it can face fines or even stricter liability. In such a case, you could seek compensation from them as well.
Criminal proceedings
If you believe that you have been a target of hate speech, you can request a criminal investigation. The investigation agency is obliged to start the investigation straightaway based on your information. However, in some cases described by the Criminal Procedure Code of Georgia investigation may be terminated by the prosecutor. In this case you can submit the complaint about the prosecutor's decision to the higher prosecutor. Higher prosecutor’s decision is final, except if you are complaining about the termination of an investigation on a particularly aggravate crime. In this case you can submit the complaint on the higher prosecutor’s decision to the court. The court must issue a decision on your complaint within the 15 days. This is a final decision about the termination of the investigation and you cannot complain about it in the higher court.
Read more about the termination of the investigation.
Civil claim
Regardless of the outcome of criminal proceedings, you have a right to claim monetary compensation from the authors or disseminators of expressions that have caused moral suffering or material damages to you. You can bring such claim in the following situations:
- You may initiate civil litigation and ask for monetary compensation from the author or disseminator of the expressions even if the prosecutor terminates a criminal investigation. In this case you will have to prove that the statements (or other forms of expression) have caused you moral suffering or material damage.
- You may initiate civil litigation and ask for monetary compensation from the author or disseminator of the expressions even if you do not initiate criminal proceedings by complaining to the police. In this case you will have to prove that the statements (or other forms of expression) have caused you moral suffering or material damage.
Read more about civil liability under the Civil Code of Georgia and Civil Procedure Code of Georgia.
Defamation claim
Even if the insulting expressions did not reach the level of hate speech and were not considered a crime, you may still consider these expressions defamatory and file a complaint. Read more about defamation and how to submit such complaint.