Resistance Movement Requests Large Scale Amnesty of Prisoners

The Resistance Movement requested the large-scale amnesty of prisoners. As head of the movement, Davit Tarkhan-Mouravi stated at the press conference held in the office of Interpressnews, that the draft law on the amnesty proposal has already been drawn out and now they are collecting the signatures. Deputy Dimitri Lortkipanidze will assist with the legislative initiative.

According to Mr. Tarkhan-Mouravi, the number of prisoners in Georgia is already unprecedentedly high. Conversely, he points out that by implementing this draft law, it will reduce the prison population in Georgia less than 5,000 people. It should be noted that there are currently more than 42,000 prisoners in Georgia; this statistic raises alarm among European states and human rights defenders.

No state imprisons people for drug use, states Mr. Tarkhan-Mouravi. He points out that 5% of the Georgian population is imprisoned. That figure is far too high and is a main contributor to the overcrowding of prisons and inhumane living conditions for the inmates.

The Resistance Movement, apart from preparing this legislative initiative, also conducts protest actions. As Tarkhan-Mouravi states, the next protest action regarding the existing situation in prisons will be held at the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance on March 25th.

According to Mr. Tarkhan-Mouravi, there is a third option they can follow in pursuing prisoners’ rights, namely informing European states and international human rights defenders.

For the period of April and May, the Committee hearing is scheduled to take place in the European Parliament where the current state of Georgia’s prisons will be discussed, as well as the  prisoners’ cases.

Resistance movement unites various NGOs and cultural figures.

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