incidents of politically motivated violence against rivals by Georgian Dream party loyalists, but also on occasion by UNM supporters. On 22 May, around a dozen unidentified men assaulted a group of prominent UNM members at a polling station in Kortskheli village. Eyewitnesses said the attack appeared to be organized. Footage shows UNM members being punched, knocked to the ground and beaten with wooden batons. Several police officers at the scene failed to prevent the assault and allowed the attackers to leave the scene. On 1 June, six men were charged with hooliganism in connection with the attack and released on bail. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION On 15 February, Parliament dropped a bill that sought to make “insulting religious feelings” an administrative offence. The bill had been approved by the parliamentary Human Rights Committee and sought, among other things, to penalize criticism of religious leaders. RIGHTS OF LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER AND INTERSEX PEOPLE On 9 August, President Margvelashvili refused to call a referendum on a constitutional amendment to restrict the definition of marriage in the Constitution from “the voluntary union based on equality between the spouses” to “a union between a man and a woman”. The bill originally calling for the constitutional amendment had been endorsed by the parliamentary Human Rights Committee in May. On 23 November, a transgender woman, attacked and beaten by two men, died of her injuries in hospital. A local women’s rights NGO reported registering at least 35 attacks on LGBTI women during the year. The Public Defender Office joined local rights groups in raising concerns regarding the lack of effective investigation and accountability over crimes targeting LGBTI people. 166 TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT Amid concerns about torture and other illtreatment, and other abuses, by law enforcement officers, the government failed to bring forward legislation creating an independent investigation mechanism for human rights violations committed by law enforcement bodies. On 7 August, a local police inspector summoned Demur Sturua, a 22-year-old resident of Dapnari, Western Georgia, for questioning about someone growing cannabis in the village. The following day, Demur Sturua committed suicide. His suicide note blamed the police inspector and mentioned beating and threats. His family’s lawyer said that a postmortem examination found physical injuries. The investigation into the case was ongoing at the end of the year. There were subsequent media reports that residents in remote villages, who may have suffered similar treatment at the hands of police officials, were not willing to present a complaint for fear of reprisals and lack of trust in the authorities. GERMANY Federal Republic of Germany Head of state: Joachim Gauck Head of government: Angela Merkel The authorities made considerable efforts to house and process the large number of asylum-seekers who arrived in 2015. However, the government also adopted several laws to restrict the rights of asylumseekers and refugees, including on family reunification. The number of racist and xenophobic attacks on asylum shelters remained high and the authorities failed to adopt effective strategies to prevent them. REFUGEES AND ASYLUM-SEEKERS The number of new asylum-seekers decreased considerably compared to 2015. The government registered approximately Amnesty International Report 2016/17