Situation at Penitentiary Establishments Georgian TV channels disseminated first secret recording in the evening, on September 18th, 2012. The video was recorded at N8 establishment and it depicted the situation in the quarantine unit of the establishment, where highrank officials of the establishment and ordinary officers beat inmates during their stay in quarantine as well as their transfer from the quarantine unit to a cell (so-called process of quarantine-breaking). It shall be noted that Director of N8 establishment Davit Khuchua and his deputy Victor Kacheishvili as well as chief of the regime department of N8 establishment Oleg Patsatsia3 and other personnel of this establishment participated in the beating of inmates. In addition to the above-mentioned persons, members of the Special Preventive Group identified personnel of N8 establishment - certain Giorgi Avsajanishviili who worked at N18 establishment for a brief period of time and many times inmates addressed Public Defender regarding facts of ill-treatment4 inflicted on them by Avsajanishvili. In his turn, Public Defender applied regarding various cases to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia with a request to launch an investigation and punish those responsible but every time those efforts were in vain – investigation as always, was limited to a formal inquiry with regard to the said cases and no specific result was achieved. Apart from this, the videos clearly showed that Deputy Head of the Penitentiary Department Gaga Mkurnalidze participated in beatings of inmates. This is the very Mkurnalidze who has been named in the recommendation sent by Public Defender to the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia on March 19th, 2010 requesting the launch an investigation into facts of inhuman and degrading treatment inflicted by the personnel of the penitentiary department and lead by Mkurnalidze at the penitentiary establishment N8 in Geguti (now establishment N14. An investigation was launched on the case, however no specific result has been achieved.5 The situation became even more aggravated as the Parliamentary elections of October 1, 2012 approached. On September 18th, 2012, the Ministry of Internal Affairs disseminated the statement according to which it had launched an investigation into facts of inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners by certain personnel of the Penitentiary Department on the basis of operative information received from the Gldani Prison No. 8. On September 18th, 2012 he Public Defender’s Office of Georgia issued the following statement: Public Defender believes that the response of the investigatory bodies is a step forward and addresses the Chief Prosecutor with a demand to take the appropriate measures to identify all persons who are guilty and hold them criminally responsible in a 3 4 5 Many prisoners informed the Prevemntive Group about cruelty of this person, but none of them expressed a wish to apply to investigative bodies. Despite this, the name of Oleg Patsatsia, alongside the names of other prison workers, is indicated in the Special Report of the National Preventive Mechanism of the first half of 2011 and the 2011 Parliamentary Report of Public Defender. i.e. the case of Kakhaber Baratashvili, the case of Giorgi Okropiridze, the 2011 Parliamentary Report of Public Defender The said case is included in the 2010 Parliamentary Report of Public Defender. NPM Report 2012 The same evening of September 18th, 2012 other videos were shown that depicted small size cells - so-called “boxes” in the quarantine unit of establishment N8. The numerous reports of Public Defender described these “boxes” as around 2-3 square meter cells with no beds, or a chair and having bars instead of a door. And these boxes featured in the video recordings which showed that an inmate had a broom between his thighs, a special helmet on his head which was used so that no damage showed later, an inmate was tied to a door bar while guards were insulting him, laughing at him and harassing him. Other records also show an inmate in the “box” who was tied to a bar and despite his repeated requests and demands no one paying any attention to him. The disseminated videos clearly show that chief of the regime department of the establishment Oleg Patsatsia was particularly cruel and aggressive towards inmates. He personally tortured and verbally insulted an inmate, sexually harassed him and literally spitted in the face. Also, other disseminated videos show how an inmate is disrobed in a quarantine unit by officers of the establishment and make him to stick a lighted cigarette up into his anus with his own hands and stand in a bent position until guards tell him to take the cigarette out and smoke the same cigarette and afterwards put it into the anus again. The disseminated recordings show how one of the inmates who supposedly is a juvenile is tortured and beaten. Prison guards threatened him with rape and physically assault him, imitate his rape with a condom-wrapped truncheon and force him to swear at so-called thieves-in-law. Despite repeated requests of the inmate to stop these actions the officers of the establishment did not stop this cruelty and continued their criminal actions. These prison videos caused sharp disgrace in the society and families of prisoners. Numerous protest rallies were held, inter alia in front of N8 establishment. Participants of the rally demanded immediate punishment of those responsible and protection of prisoners’ rights.