Beaten Prisoner Begs For Help

Beaten Prisoner Begs For Help

The torture of prisoners is still problematic in Georgia despite the Rose Revolution. A prisoner was recently badly beaten and now is begging for someone to help him. The Ombudsman wants the Head of the Penitentiary Department, Bacho Akhalaia, to leave his position because of his involvement in the beating incident.

“Akhalaia came and blackmailed me, saying that he would kill me. Help me please, I need it very much, I need you to back me”, implores prisoner Iago Tsikvadze, who wants the Prisoners’ Right’s Defender and journalists to come to his aid.

Sozar Subar, the Ombudsmen visited Iago Tsikvadze on March 23rd.  He was shocked; the prisoner had bruises all over his body. The prisoner did not hide the fact that he was beaten by prison staff over some disagreement. Akhalai apparently offered him a deal; either he would shorten his sentence if he kept quiet or murder him if he said anything.
 
The prisoner’s lawyer, Gela Nikoleishvili, says the same about Bacho Akhalaia: “Bacho Akhalaia says that nobody can touch him; he can treat anybody however likes. Akhalai was using such nasty language that I could not repeat it and he did this in front of the other prisoners. The prisoner’s life is in danger, these people will do anything.”

Bacho Akhalaia is keeping quiet and not making any comments himself. He states only that the prisoner is not telling the truth. The Ombudsman wants the Head of the Penitentiary Department to leave his position. The investigation into this particular case has already started but the prisoner is scared stiff and now will not cooperate with the prosecutor.

Many prisoners rights NGOs have reacted to the incident. NGO staff even promised to visit the beaten prisoner to help protect him. A representative of ‘The Institution of Liberty’, Tea Tutberidze, stated: “The prisoner is in a very terrible and dangerous situation. It is quite possible that somebody will make him pay for speaking out - I will visit him as often as I can.”

An NGO coalition and six opposition parties have put together a special memorandum. There are both criminal cases and prisoners’ torture issues mentioned in the document. The main topic however is facts about torture. The memorandum was sent to different international organizations and diplomatic committees.

After the Rose Revolution, there were lots of cases of prisoner torture. The international organization Amnesty International estimated the following: “There were lots of incidents of prisoner torture in 2004-2005. In order to obtain evidence, prison staff used cruel and inhuman ways of torture, such as; electric shocks, burns with cigarettes and candles, putting plastic bags over prisoners heads, blackmailing them saying that they would kill their relatives and loved ones, putting things in their mouths while beating them so that nobody could hear their screams and a variety of other cruel methods.”

The European Union is also not satisfied with the prison situation in Georgia. In its 2005 report nothing was said about torture, but the situation in the prisons was criticized: “Prison no 1 was hugely overcrowded and very dilapidated. It was damp, dark and dirty.  The general conditions were dreadful. It is probably the worst we have seen anywhere. The total capacity was 2200 but the population was 3663. Not everyone had a bed of his own. The prisoners were lying head to tail on the beds, as there was insufficient room to stand or sit. We were still concerned about the overall treatment of unconvicted prisoners in Georgia and we do not consider that the system meets the current EPR 91, which stresses the presumption of innocence”.   

On March 27th 2006, early in the morning the situation had become so unbearable that the prisoners decided to riot. They smashed prison cells and burnt them. What followed was a Special Operation which lasted for two hours. Some of the prisoners died and some staff members were also injured. Later Minister Gia Qavtaradze made a speech, saying the prisoners simply wanted to stage a huge riot so they could then escape on mass.

“Our capital was in serious danger this morning, there was a plan in a prison, to riot and then make a mass break out. It was a well prepared and well organized operation. For two hours our staff tried to convince them to calm down or else they would start a Special Operation. Unfortunately the prisoners did not yield and two of our stuff members were wounded whilst ten of them have various injuries”, said the Minister. 

Eka Gulua