Ombudsman Sozar Subari Presented Mid-term Report 2006 to the Parliament

Ombudsman Sozar Subari Presented Mid-term Report 2006 to the Parliament

Tbilisi, 05.06.06, ‘Media News’ – The Ombudsman Sozar Subari held a meeting with the parliamentary opposition and presented them with a report about the human rights situation in Georgia for the first part of 2006. Representatives of NGOs and non-parliamentary opposition also attended the meeting.

Subari talked about popular cases, which took place recently. He said that the use of weapons by law enforcers is quite often not necessary. An illustration of this is the incident which took place in front of the Ministry of Culture on the 2nd of May, when two suspects were killed by the police.

Police unnecessarily used weapons during the prison riot on the 27th of March, said Subari. The Ombudsman demands an investigation be launched against the head of the Penitentiary system - Bacho Akhalaia.

Subari believes that the prison riot was provoked by Akhalaia’s actions. Six inmates confirmed that Akhalaia physically assaulted prisoners, which caused the massive riot later on. The Ombudsman is also not sure that the police officers who were arrested had any connection with Girgvliani’s murder.

Besides these cases, Subari talked about the terrible condition of the penitentiary system and about concrete human rights violations.

Subari also demanded that the Parliament remove MP Badri Nanetashvili from his duties. Subari says that he is actively involved in business.

“The Valery Gelashvili was removed from her duties after only a testimony. Several people can confirm Nanetashvili’s involvement in business activities,” said Subari.

According to the Ombudsman, he has already sent an official letter to the Head of the Parliament Nino Burjanadze, asking for the cancellation of Nanetashvili’s duties.