Director of Ksani Penitentiary Establishment Declares Prisoners’ Protest Is Provoked

Interpresnews

On November 5, Director of Ksani Penitentiary Establishment # 15 Nukri Khukhua is going to resign. He personally told Interpresnews about it. “I am writing the resignation letter and if they accept, I quit the position,” Nukri Khukhua said.

However, the next day, on November 6 Nukri Khukhua changed his mind and did not quit the position. He told IPN he does not want anybody to think that he is guilty and is quitting job for that reason; so he will make the final decision after investigation, based on prisoners’ accusations, is finished.

“General Inspection will finish its work in 3-4 days and I will make final decision only after that. I do not want anybody to think my resignation was due to guilt and that I am avoiding my responsibility. I am not running anywhere and that’s why I will wait for the GI to finish its work. I still keep my resignation letter ready on my working table,” said Nukri Khukhua.

About 2000 prisoners are on hunger strike in Prison # 15 and request the resignation of Khukhua. Some of them even sewed their mouths up and legs to each other.

Nukri Khukhua believes the situation has been provoked. He said the provocation against him started after he visited the so-called supervisor of the prison Akhalaia (convicted) and demanded him to stop collecting cigarettes in the prison.

“About 1000 cigarette boxes were collected to give them to gravely sick prisoners and to so-called lonely inmates. After I learned about, I warned the prisoners to stop collecting cigarettes. They used to give about 200-300 boxes to the aforementioned inmates but I do not know where the rest out of 1000 collected cigarettes went. Three groups were working within the establishment. I was told they were exchanging the cigarettes into other products at the prison shop. After I prohibited similar actions, the prisoners were incited to protest. I was also told that part of the cigarettes even went to prison personnel. According to the operative information, a prison officer received 2 boxes of cigarettes every day. Afterwards, I called several officers and told one of them directly that he was acting illegally. I also asked the officers what they would do in my place. Two of them said the officer deserved punishment but I just rebuked him,” Nukri Khukhua said.

The prison director categorically denies prisoners’ accusations, such as being Bacho Akhalaia’s ally [former minister of interior].

“I have been working in the system since 1978. When Akhalaia became the head of penitentiary department in Febuary 2006, I was deputy director of Prison # 5. Then they appointed me to the position of the head of Security Service of the Penitentiary Department where I worked till April, 2006. After a famous riot in prison, I had a conflict with Megis Kardava (former senior official of the law enforcement agencies) and I quit the job. I was unemployed until 2008. Then I applied to the department (with Kakua as chairman) to reinstate me to any position. They accepted my request and I was appointed to the position of deputy director of Prison # 1 where I worked till 2010. In September of 2010, deputy chairman of the Penitentiary Department Gaga Mkurnalidze fabricated a case against my establishment and two of our employees were arrested; I resigned from the position in protest. I am not member of their (Akhalaia’s) circle. I have visited him in his working room only three times. If I had a good relation with him should he have fired me? I am not his protégé; those people are his protégés who came in office after Akhalaia occupied the position. But I was already working in the penitentiary system when he became chairman of the PD,” said Khukhua.

IPN asked him who appointed him to the position of the director of Prison # 15, and Khukhua said that while he did not receive a personal proposal from Sozar Subari, the Minister of Corrections and Legal Assistance, the proposal was made from his office.

Besides that, Nukri Khukhua denied one more accusation by which the prisoners alleged that he had threatened them and introduced riot police officers into the establishment.

The prison director said that if the present problems in the prison will be resolved by his resignation, he is ready to resign. However, Khukhua said if he resigns, it will become a general trend and inmates in every custody will act in the same way.

“If my resignation resolves the problem, I am ready to resign but it will acquire a permanent character. Shame on any leader and representative of law enforcement agency who is ruled by a criminal. Today they will manage to fire two directors; tomorrow they will attack the parliament. As for accusations, four days before this incident an article was published in a newspaper “There will be bloodshed” and it alleged that within four days of the incident which occurred in Rustavi Prison # 16, it would be repeated in Ksani Prison # 15 too. The rest of this story shall be judged by society,” Nukri Khukhua said.

He also added that prisoners have false accusations against prison doctors.

“Zhana Purtseladze, whom prisoners complain about, is perfect and attentive doctor. Their statements against doctors are motivated by the fact that 35-40% of prisoners are drug-addicts and since they cannot get narcotics in the prison, they demand psychotropic medicines. Though it is not within the competence of doctors, similar medicines can be given to prisoners based with a doctor’s prescription,” Nukri Khukhua said.