A/HRC/13/39/Add.6 Georgia Follow-up to the recommendations made by the Special Rapporteur (Manfred Nowak) in the report of his visit to Georgia in February 2005 (E/CN.4/2006/6/Add.3, paras. 60-62) 26. By letter dated 23 October 2009, the Special Rapporteur sent the following report to the Government of Georgia, requesting information and comments on the follow-up measures taken with regard to the implementation of his recommendations. He expresses his gratitude to the Government for providing comprehensive information by letter dated 4 December 2009. 27. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the continuing work on the implementation of the Anti-torture Plan and the revised Criminal Justice Reform Strategy, which has been expanded to cover important additional areas such as juvenile justice. The Special Rapporteur is looking forward to receiving the implementation report prepared by the Secretariat of the Criminal Justice Reform Inter-Agency Council. He further welcomes the elaboration of the draft Code on Imprisonment which incorporates important new developments in the fight against torture and other ill-treatment. 28. The Special Rapporteur would like to call upon the Government to play a more proactive role with regard to compensation and rehabilitation of victims of torture and other illtreatment. 29. The Special Rapporteur would like to thank the Government for providing extensive statistics in relation to pre-trial detention and non-custodial measures and would like to positively note the increasing use of bail. He further welcomes the efforts undertaken to reform the probation service and hopes that respective legislative amendments will be made shortly. 30. The Special Rapporteur notes with appreciation the adoption of the Penitentiary Strategy and a corresponding Action Plan, which cover an improved food supply and health care as well as education programmes. However, more concentrated efforts need to be made to effectively tackle the persistent overcrowding in a number of penitentiary facilities. 31. Finally, the Special Rapporteur welcomes the legislative amendment by which the Office of the Public Defender was officially designated as a National Preventive Mechanism. He hopes that the future composition of the National Preventive Mechanism will truly reflect the independence of that mechanism. 64