• On January 30, 2015, the Public Defender of Georgia held public debates on the issue “ill-treatment in the penitentiary establishments �� how adequate is the state response?” • On June 26, the NPM presented its annual report. • During 2015, the NPM released four special reports related to the (1) state of rights of the persons with disabilities in the penitentiary establishments and non-voluntary and forcible mental health institutions; (2) state of rights of elderly persons in the daily specialized institutions; (3) state of children’s rights in the boarding schools under the Orthodox Church of Georgia and Muslim Denomination and (4) special report on request/complaint mechanism in the penitentiary system of Georgia. Notably, study on request/complaint mechanism was carried out for the first time and was widely acknowledged by various stakeholders. • In 2015, the NPM prepared, published and submitted six after-visit reports describing situation in the penitentiary establishments. These reports are accessible via official web-site of the Public Defender. • During the reporting period, in order to better inform society, the NPM kicked off release of the quarterly bulletins, which briefly describe activities carried out by the NPM, information on the penitentiary establishments, dynamics of implementation of NPM recommendations, legislative review, information on international events, experts’ opinion, agenda of the upcoming events and etc. In 2015, totally three such bulletins had been published. • On December 4, 2015, the Public Defender held public debates on the issue “response to the facts of ill-treatment in police: visions of state and society”. Among others, Head of Prevention and Monitoring Department Nika Kvaratskhelia also delivered a speech on existing situation in the institutions under the Ministry of Interior. The NPM regularly disseminated public statements concerning outcomes of the visits to the places of deprivation of liberty. In addition, members of the NPM participated in different TV and radio programs and gave interviews to the printed and internet media outlets. 1.2.4. PARTICIPATION IN INTERNATIONAL EVENTS Representatives of the NPM participated in several international events, among them, the head of the Prevention and Monitoring Department took part in the CPT Conference 10 NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISM (NPM), 2015