Ombudsman Demands Probe into Prisoner Abuse

Public Defender Sozar Subari called for an immediate probe into reported prisoner abuse in the Rustavi jail on October 30. Subari said that while monitoring the prison, observers from the Public Defender?s Office discovered that some prisoners were held stripped naked in their cells.

Prison system officials have already denied the allegations.

?This is lie. No one has ever seen naked prisoners,? Bacho Akhalaia, chief of the prison system said.

?Two people [observers from the Public Defender?s Office] have seen with their own eyes naked prisoners in the cells. This needs an immediate reaction and this reaction should be an investigation and not a denial of [the fact],? Sozar Subari said.

Opposition parliamentarians from the Democratic Front faction Kakha Kukava and Gia Tortladze, met with the Public Defender along with non-partisan MP Koka Guntsadze on October 30 to discuss the issue.

The opposition MPs demanded that an investigative commission be set up in the Parliament to investigate reported abuses of prisoner rights.

MP Koka Guntsadze said that Bacho Akhalaia, chief of the prison system, should be held responsible for the mistreatment of prisoners.

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