National Preventive Mechanism N8. e.g. for punishment purposes, inmates were kept in quarantine cells with their hands on the head and kneeled for various periods of time, also water mixed with bleach was poured on a cell floor thus to prevent inmates from even lying down on a concrete floor. Despite the fact that Public Defender repeatedly emphasized inhuman treatment taking place in establishment N2 and noted that inmates were ill-treated, neither the Georgian Ministry of Corrections, Probation and Legal Assistance nor the Chief Prosecutor’s Office have taken any effective measures for improvement of the situation. Case of Nikoloz V. On September 25th, 2012 representative of Public Defender met and interviewed a convict held in Kutaisi establishment No 2 Nikoloz V. According to the latter he was suffering from psychiatric problems because of which he repeatedly tried to commit a suicide. The inmate explained that several months ago he inflicted a self-injury and because of this the establishment personnel - Roma Robakidze and Irakli Minashvili took him out of the cell and beat him up first in a hall, and later in a duty unit. Afterwards they asked a nurse to give him an injection and tied him to stairs. According to the inmate, he was left tied to the stairs till the next morning and later on was taken to so-called box (F-102 cell) where he remained for seven days and during this period slept on a concrete floor. On September 28th, 2012 Public Defender’s Office sent an explanatory note of convict Nikoloz V. to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office where the convict described the above-mentioned facts. According to a response N 13/43248 from the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, that was received by Public Defender’s Office, on October 15th, 2012 the District Prosecutors’ Office of Western Georgia launched an investigation into a criminal case N088151012801 on the fact of inhuman treatment exercised against convict Nikoloz V., pursuant to “b” and “e” sub-paragraphs of the second paragraph of article 1443 of Penal Code of Georgia. On January 10th, 2013 written appeal was again sent from Public Defender’s Office of Georgia to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, where we requested detailed information on the ongoing investigation of this criminal case. The Chief Prosecutor’s Office informed us with the response N13/8859 that the case of Nikoloz V. was merged with a criminal case opened in the investigative unit of the Regional Prosecutor’s Office of Western Georgia on the fact of torture and inhuman treatment of inmates by certain personnel of penitentiary establishment N2. The same response stated that the investigation on the case was pending. Penitentiary establishment No 4 in Zugdidi The establishment is one of those, recommended by Public Defender to be closed due to conditions existing there. We shall note that during the monitoring, inmates held at establishment N4 did not mention ill-treatment towards them. Herewith we shall mention that inmates transferred from Zugdidi establishment N4 to other establishments often noted that in establishment N4 in Zugdidi inhuman and degrading treatment was exercised against them, however they refrained from giving written explanations. The monitoring group remarked inmates tensing at the opening of a cell door - each of them immediately standing up with their hands at the back, lining at the window and unanimously answering questions of the monitoring group and stating that everything was well at the establishment and they had no problems. Conditions and treatment in the establishment N4 in Zugdidi were also mentioned in the 2011 Parliamentary Report of Public Defender, however due to the above-mentioned reasons no specific facts were indicated. Despite the fact that following to September 2012 inmates held in all establishments openly talked about ill-treatment www.ombudsman.ge NPM Report