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Tortured and Beaten Prisoner Request Doctor

June 24, 2008

Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi

Several facts can demonstrate that law enforcers make full use of their fists and muscles when they arrest a suspect. Very often they find drugs and ammunition while searching detainees. The criminal process is a done-deal from the onset, the verdict has already passed. The unfortunate detainee is then sent to prison for 15-20 years for some of the more serious crimes.

Later, it becomes very difficult for attorneys to prove that their clients were actually beaten during detention, and that is besides that the client is innocent in the first place.  As a rule, the witnesses of the arrest turn out to only be representatives of law enforcer bodies.

Twenty-nine-year-old Ramaz Gogia is one such victim and he is now placed in Kutaisi Detention Setting # 2 and cannot endure the terrible pain that he is exposed. Gogia was ruthlessly beaten during the detention and initially in a Zugdidi detention setting, and now that he is in Kutaisi, he wants to see a doctor.His attorney claims that Ramaz Gogia was groundlessly sentenced to serve a twenty-year prison sentence. He is just one of many victim of torture and those criminally responsible for violating his human rights will likely never be held accountable. 

“In February of 2007 people in civil clothes stopped him on his way from Zugdidi to Tbilisi and searched. Later, nearly 30 ununiformed people arrived at the place of incident and started to beat Gogia in mass; they continued his beating at the police station too; the detainee was seriously injured and a result.  His fifth and sixth vertebras were broken and he has continues to be in terrible pain. My client told me that while moving he hears his bones are cracking. The case materials do not contain any evidence against him,” said Inga Giorgadze, the attorney of Ramaz Gogia.

The law enforcers planted the driver’s certificate that was missing from the scene of robbery in Martvili. Later, while searching the house of Gogia, the special unit discovered drugs and hand grenades.  The guest of the family was then forced to sign the search warrant and they continued to search and investigate the robbery. However, the Kutaisi appeal court refused to change the verdict of Senaki district court that handed out a twenty-year prison sentence.

“The attorney of the condemned has since applied to our organization for assistance. I visited Ramaz Gogia at prison whose health conditions was very poor. Reportedly, the relatives of the prisoner applied to Georgian General Inspection and Prosecutor General’s Office for assistance. They started that the investigation that has not started yet and that nobody had been interrogated yet.

“The person is victim of inhuman treatment and the Article III of the Human Rights under the European Convention”. The article prohibits acts of torture,” stated Ana Chapidze, lawyer for Kutaisi office of Psycho-Social and Medical Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims”.

Four medical expertises were carried out on Gogia. However, the attorney is unable to gain access to the expertise conclusion. “A French doctor visited Gogia together with the representatives of the Organization against Torture in Zugdidi prison. A document (a medical conclusion) was prepared but the lawyer has been denied access to it. One moment is important here: a witness was forced to sign the search protocol in Gogia’s house. The witness claims that law enforcers twisted his hands and made him sign the document. Later the witness applied to the Prosecutor General’s Office and reported that he had signed the protocol under physical force. Soon, a criminal persecution started against that person on the ground of having given false testimony,” said Ana Chapidze.

The relatives of the prisoner applied to the Georgian Public Defender’s Organization in Western Georgia: “Our representatives met Ramaz Gogia. The prisoner complained about his injuries and said that he could write about details in his appeal. The appeal has not reached us as yet. Besides, Gogia asked to be provided the telephone number of the Council of Europe and we assisted him,” said Madona Basiladze, the director of the Georgian Public Defender’s Organization in Western Georgia.

Representatives of the Psycho-Social and Medical Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims state that they are preparing case materials to submit to European Court to defend the rights of an innocent prisoner and latest victim of torture.

 

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