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Human Rights Center in the 2015 Report of Human Rights Watch

January 30, 2015
 
World Report 2015 is Human Rights Watch’s 25th annual review of human rights practices around the globe. It summarizes key human rights issues in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide. Human Rights Watch monitors human rights abuses in the countries in close partnership with local human rights organizations; communicates with local governments and international organizations.  

One of the chapters in the 2015 Report is dedicated to Georgia.

Lack of accountability for law enforcement officials remained a problem, as Georgia does not have an independent effective mechanism for investigating crimes committed by law enforcements officials, the Report reads. 

In its sub-chapter about Torture, Ill-Treatment and Prison Conditions, Human Rights Watch relied on August 2014 reports of Human Rights Center together with the reports of other local human rights organizations. 

Police in a Tbilisi district physically assaulted Giorgi Tsomaia, a man who had entered a police station at night inebriated and demanded that police return a cellphone they had confiscated in 2013 as evidence in a criminal investigation. Tsomaia claimed that about 11 officers physically assaulted him, and he sustained injuries to his face and head. He was then detained for violence against police and a court sent him to pretrial custody. An investigation into his claims was pending at time of writing.

Head of Legal Aid Service at Human Rights Center Tamar Avaliani defends the rights of Giorgi Tsomaia together with private attorney. Tamar Avaliani requests launch of the investigation into the fact and punishment of alleged perpetrators. 

On August 16, Tbilisi City Court sentenced Giorgi Tsomaia to imprisonment and he is placed in Gldani Prison # 8. The court is still viewing Giorgi Tsomaia’s case.

The Report reads that local human rights organization Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), a leading domestic human rights group, received at least 50 complaints in 10 months in 2014; 31 of them about physical and verbal abuse by police, and 19 by penitentiary staff. According to GYLA, the authorities failed to effectively investigate those allegations. 

Human Rights Watch wrote in its report that in May, the public defender noted positive changes in the penitentiary system, particularly in healthcare in his annual report, but also highlighted several cases of alleged ill-treatment of inmates which had not been effectively investigated, and “alarming circumstances surrounding death of several inmates in prisons.”

See full report of Human Rights Watch at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf

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