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Why Gvantsa Kuparadze Was Not Early Released from Prison – Who Settles Fate of Prisoners?!

May 20, 2011

Salome Achba

Several months left before the end of Gvantsa Kuparadze’s prison term. At the end of the school-year she intends to take national exams; so she requested early release. Although the prisoner has good reference from the prison administration, the local council of the Mnistry of Corrections and Legal Aid did not satisfy her petition.

Gvantsa Kuparadze has been serving the term for having her coeval boy wounded; he had 33 wounds. When arrested, Gvantsa Kuparadze was 14. The court sent her to prison for 10 years – five years of it are suspended sentence. Non-governmental organizations doubt about Gvantsa Kuparadze’s accusation. They made a special statementabout it. It is very doubtful that a 14-year-old girl could stab a boy 33 times and the boy could not resist her.

Gvantsa’s father Aleksandre Kuparadze believes the Council of the Ministry made illegal decision and it shall be cancelled. He said Gvantsa satisfied all criteria for early-release.

Aleksandre Kuparadze: “According to those criteria, Gvantsa deserved no more than 5, 5 points but the Council falsified the data and as a result Gvantsa is still in prison. She had perfect reference; she participated in all events organization in the custody. For perfect behavior and studies she can have four additional rendezvous; she has served two-third of her term, has good relation with the prison administration. In short, she complied with all criteria. They wrote in the conclusion that we do not visit her in prison; though I visit her every day. They falsified other information too. The protocol states that she was never bestirred or punished; indeed she was never punished but the prison administration granted her permission to have extra 4 rendezvous that means, she is bestirred, is not she?! The prison administration wrote it in their reference. However, the commission made completely different conclusion based on this reference and did not early release Gvantsa.”

Who estimates points –Council or Ministry?

Prisoners’ petitions on early release are mainly discussed by the Local Council of the Ministry of Correction and Legal Aid. The Commission for Conditional Early-Release supervises their activities.

The regulations of the Local Council clarifies that the Council is entitled to score points to the prisoners according to the estimated criteria and is a decision-maker of their future fate.

Despite that, Zviad Devdariani, a member of the Council and director of the nongovernmental organization Civil Development Center, said in his interview with the Kviris Palitra that initially the Ministry scores points to the prisoners. In the interview he claimed that the Council does not interfere in the initial process and they receive only ready-points. You can listen to the audio-recording of the interview on the youtube. 

Here is the extract from Zviad Devdariani’s interview with the Kviris Palitra.

-You might know that the Council declined the petition of Gvantsa Kuparadze on early-release. You have also signed the document. According to the Council conclusion, Gvantsa Kuparadze deserved minus points because she was never bestirred during imprisonment. In fact, based on the resolution # 155 of the Prison Director, she can enjoy additional 4 rendezvous.

-I do not remember everything in details; I can answer your question only after I look through the document.

-You have evaluated her relation with the family with minus-points. What criteria do you use to evaluate this relation?

-We do not score any points to the prisoners. It is done before we receive the data about concrete prisoners. Generally, according to procedures, the ministry estimates the points. I do not know which concrete department in responsible for it. But when the prisoner petitions to the Ministry, they discuss his/her case, scores concrete points and then makes decision – to start oral hearing on his/her case or not.

-So, you mean you receive already fixed points?

-Yes I do; if a prisoner overcomes the estimated boundary – if s/he has less than 6, 5 points – we start discussing the case. So, we have not discussed the case of this particular case and it means we have not received her petition. The ministry made final decision about her and concluded that the person cannot be discussed at oral hearing.

-Then, why does the document has your signature?

-My name is written on the document because we are council members who carry out oral hearing… but if we have not received this particular case, relatively we have not met the person. We receive cases of about 20-30 persons. We do not discuss cases of other people.

Lawyer of the Human Rights Center Eka Kobesashvili clarified that Local Council is entitled to discuss the petitions of the prisoners on early-release from the very first stage and they have to score corresponding points to them. “The Local Council of the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Aid discusses the petitions of the prisoners on early release. First of all, the Council discusses those petitions without oral hearing. If the prisoner receives more than 6, 5 points, she/he is denied to satisfy the petition but if the points are less than 6, 5 then the Council starts oral hearing of the petition. During the oral hearing, the Council starts discussion of the petition for the early-release of the prisoner.”

If it is true, why did Zviad Devdariani claim in his interview with the Kviris Palitra that the Ministry discusses the petitions and scores points too? Eka Kobesashvili said if similar practice really exists, it contradicts the law because only the Council is authorized to score points to applicant prisoners.

According to the Kviris Palitra, the protocol also contradicts Zviad Devdariani’s statement; the journalist also paid attention to this fact and tries to clear up why the respondent signed the document then. The document illustrates that the Council discussed Kuparadze’s petition without oral hearing and granted more than 6, 5 points to her. So, the Council did not discuss her petition at the oral hearing.

Gvantsa Kuparadze’s father Aleksandre Kuparadze said the Case is not very complicated and just the opposite, the procedures are very simple – the Local Council formally exists and does not have decision-making function at all. Their only responsibility is to sign documents. Kuparadze said the Council does not even count the points. The ministry sends the already estimated points and the Council members only sign the document. Aleksandre Kuparadze said the audio-recording of Zviad Devdariani’s interview proves that illegal practice really exists.

In order to clarify some details, the humanrights.ge called Zviad Devdariani. He “changed” his early statement with the Kviris Palitra and said the Council scores points to the applicant and not the ministry. However, later in the interview he said that ministry participates in counting process. We decided to publish the full text of this controversial interview.
 
Zviad Devdariani: “I am not a lawyer but as far as I know, in accordance to the law, the Council is responsible for the initial selection procedures which aims counting of the points; the Council is responsible for the second stage too – oral hearing where the Council members personally meet and interview the prisoners who received less than 6,5 points.

-So, the Council scores points to the prisoners, does not it?

-Yes, the council does.

-We have listened to your interview with the Kviris Palitra. You say that the Council does not interfere in the evaluation process and they receive already estimated points from the Ministry…

-You see, the journalist changed my statements in that article.

-I am not speaking about the printed version of the interview; I mean the audio-recording of your interview where your voice is clearly heard.

-No, the Council is responsible for all these procedures among them point-scoring and oral hearing too.

-If the Council scores points to applicants, why did you deny the fact in your interview with the Kviris Palitra then? You said the Ministry scores the points and not the Council.

-Well, the procedures are carried out together with the ministry administration. We receive a lot of applications and many people assist us from the ministry to discuss them; they participate in the point-scoring process too. If there is any complaint about the points, there are procedures envisaged under the law that allows an applicant to appeal against the results.

-To tell the truth, we are confused – in one audio-recording you say the Council does not score points, but now you say the Council does it.

-If you have listened to the audio-recording, you should also complain about the context of the article. It was completely incorrect and inaccurate article. And why are you asking my explanations now?

-We are not speaking about the article; I am talking about the audio-recording where your voice is clearly heard; you said the Council does not count the points at the first stage of procedures.

-You know, I have not listened to the audio-recording. If you really listened to it, you should definitely know it better. I am explaining now how it works in fact.

-We have listened to the audio-recording and we know that you said – the Council is not scoring points.

-No, the journalist asked me – have you signed the document? However, nobody signs the document. Only the list of Council Members is written on it and I explained to the journalist that I have not signed the document.

-We are not speaking about it. You have told me that the Council scores points; but you have told the journalist of the Kviris Palitra Khatuna Paichadze that the Council does not grant points to applications. So, which information is correct? The information which you told Paichadze or the one you have told us? How can we maintain professional standards and write article based on correct information?

-I know what Khatuna Paichadze wrote. I also know what I told her. And I would like to clarify once more that point estimating and the entire procedure is within the competence of the Council. The Ministry also involves the procedure.

-Ok, and then let’s return to our main issue. If the Council discusses the application at the first stage, why did you refuse Gvantsa Kuparadze to be early released?

-I do not remember this case in details. Tell me, please, what exactly you are interested in; I will review the case and answer your question then.

-For example, you granted minus point to Gvatsa Kuparadze because as if she was never bestirred in prison. However, for good behavior and learning the prison director allowed Kuparadze to have 4 additional rendezvous.

-Yes, it will not be a problem. I will study this concrete case and reply to your question. If it is really written as you say, I promise you to study and evaluate it again. However, if there is some controversy in the document, the applicant can appeal against the conclusion and can enjoy this right. I know that this case really attracts journalists’ attention but if you are interested in the early-release of this person, the parents could appeal against our decision. We discuss a lot of cases and if there is some controversy, it might be technical shortcoming. The situation will be clarified only after the family appeals against the decision.

After calling the Ministry

After this over-phone conversation, Zviad Devdariani called us back several minutes later and said that having consulted the issue with the Ministry representatives, he decided not to make any comments regarding Kuparadze’s case in future.

“I called the Ministry now and checked if procedures allow me to make comments about this case. As you know the sessions are closed. So, I have no right to inform you about the statements of concrete Council members, etc.  I was told that our conclusion was appealed at the Court and suggested to wait for the court judgment and not to make comments on the issue. Nevertheless, I will study the case again because two journalists have already called me about it.”

The Local Council of the Ministry of Corrections and Legal Aid is divided into parts: Eastern Georgian Council, Western Georgian Council and Council for Juvenile Cases. They discuss cases on early release according to their territorial belonging.

Five months to go before the end of Kuparadze’s imprisonment. Despite that, she was refused to be early released. Gvantsa continues training for the national exams in prison and intends to enter law faculty.

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