As one of the main purposes of the Public Defender/Special Preventive Group’s monitoring visits is to interview detainees, analyze information received from them and then reflect this information in the report, the Public Defender/members of Special Preventive Group make special efforts during each monitoring visit to ensure that the prisoners interviewed by them are not identified and subjected to repression. To this end, during monitoring, members of the Special Preventive Group try to talk to as many prisoners as possible in order to make it impossible for others to know which prisoner provided particular information to them. The reports also describe facts so that to make it impossible to identify specific prisoners. The fact that the state agencies register the prisoners, who had a meeting with the Public Defender/members of the Special Preventive Group and especially the disclosure of such facts make it easier for others to know which prisoners provided information described in the report of the Public Defender/National Preventive Mechanism, putting prisoners, as well as their family members and relatives, at great risk. Prisoners may be abused by other prisoners, or repressed by the prison administration and other state agencies, while their family members may be repressed by the state agencies and third parties. In addition, the breach of confidentiality by the Ministry of Justice sends a clear message to the thousands of inmates in the penitentiary establishments, who trust the ombudsman’s institution, that the Ministry can identify them anytime, which may force them to refrain from talking to the Public Defender/members of the Special Preventive Group in the future. The above-mentioned cases were termed as interference with the activities of the Public Defender by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, European Network of National Human Rights Institutions (ENNHRI), Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) and European Network of Equality Bodies (EQUINET).15 Cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs We welcome the practice of timely provision of various data by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The readiness of the Ministry to conduct a constructive dialogue with the Public Defender's Office/National Preventive Mechanism should be welcomed. In 2019, the staff of the National Preventive Mechanism (Department) attended a meeting in Borjomi, the theme of which was the implementation of the recommendations issued by the Public Defender to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In addition to the above, the Public Defender had a number of telephone communications with representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the reporting period. 15 Available at: < https://bit.ly/3cs1eyF > [last accessed: 29.01.20]. 17