“Curse-Therapy” In Gldani Jail Hospital

Sopo Getsadze

Inmate of the Rustavi Prison # 17 Rudic Ovakimyan urges the state institutions and non-governmental organizations for help. Ovakimyan is ill and complains about doctors.

The prisoner appeals to: Public Defender of Georgia Giorgi Tugushi, Chief Prosecutor Murtaz Zodelava, MPs Dimitry Lortkipanidze and Eka Kherkheulidze, lawyer of the Human Rights Center Nino Andriashvili who is his attorney.

The prisoner wrote in his complaint that he has suffered from physical weakness and perspire for a long time. In addition, he has lost weight recently. He has taken several useless medical treatments in prison. The doctors have not diagnosed any illness yet.

Extract from the prisoners complaint:

"On April 14 I was taken to the Gldani Jail Hospital for medical examination. Immediately after arriving at the hospital, the administration asked me whether I was Ovakimyan who complained about Akhalaia and his zonder-brigades. They started to speak cynically with me. Then they took me to the main receptionist where “butchers” in white gowns met me – later I found out they were doctors. The chief doctor asked me the same – “Are you Ovakimyan?” and when I agreed he ironically told other doctors to examine me. They started my examination but it was not at all different procedure from the one I had taken at the prison. The only difference was blood test though I do not know the results yet.

Before the examination finished, the doctors started to shout at me: “why are they bringing the prisoners like you to this hospital?” the chief security guard Giorgi Avsanjishvili rushed into the building together with his gang; they dragged me into the x-ray cabinet and started cursing. Avsanjishvili wanted to beat me and threatened to kill me. He said he would put me in the catafalque which arrived in the hospital together with me. Supposedly, the car was waiting for a dead patient. Then he ordered others: “Take him away from here... he sues us at the Strasbourg court” and cursed me again. Then they put me in the prison car and took me back to Rustavi prison where the chief doctor got surprised to see me so soon back. He checked the medical document where they had to write examination results. Nothing new was written in it that could assist him to start new treatment. Nothing else could have been written in the document because I took only curse-therapy and catafalque-therapy in the jail hospital.

I still suffer from physical weakness. Doctors examine me permanently and inject Analgin-Dimedrol. Bachuki Akhalaia’s promise has realized – he threatened us we would die slowly unless we withdrew our suits from the court.”

Rudic Ovakimyan petitioned to the Public Defender’s Officeon March 8, 2010. He complained about physical assault by prison personnel. The Human Rights Center sent application to the Strasbourg European Court of Human Rights to investigate the prolonged investigation of previous incidents.