Prisoner’s Relatives Request Punishment of Doctors

Shorena Kakabadze, Kutaisi

Family of Levan Kortava works on the application to the Kutaisi Appeal Court. On May 12, 2013 ruthlessly beaten 24-year-old prisoner died in Geguti prison # 14; his relatives request impartial investigation into the fact and punishment of perpetrators.

“We know that some people were punished and are now in prison but it is not enough. Everybody must be punished who were guilty in Levani’s death starting from the doctors, who did not pay attention to his conditions and doomed 24-year-old boy to death,” the relatives of Kortava said.

Falsification of evidence, professional negligence, premeditated grave injury of body that caused death - the investigation convicted six persons for these crimes. Among them were employees and prisoners of the Geguti Prison # 14. However, Kortava’s family members claim the main perpetrator is not punished. They demand punishment of the doctors and state the ruthlessly beaten prisoner died in hospital because of doctors’ negligence. 

Alternative expertise was conducted based on the family’s request; according to the conclusion “trauma received as a result of beating in prison, namely trauma in the skull, could not cause death of the prisoner Kortava.”

The family requests to start probe into the activities of the doctors from the Intervention Medicine Center of the Western Georgia. They held rally in front of the Parliament in Kutaisi in February 2015 and requested the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Healthcare and Social Issues to study the conclusion of the alternative expertise into their case. 

According to Levan Kortava’s family members, they systematically receive threatening phone calls for the past time.

“They call and remind us that Levan has a sister too. When we go to the cemetery, we usually see strange people around us who watch us,” Levan Kortava’s aunt Khatuna Kortava said.

With regard to aforementioned circumstances, lawyer of the Kortavas family Ledi Tukvadze petitioned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and called on them to ensure safety for the family members. 

24-year-old Levan Kortava was ruthlessly beaten by prison personnel in Prison # 14 after he was removed from Rustavi Prison # 6 on May 12, 2013. As a result of the received trauma the prisoner died in the Intervention Medical Center of Western Georgia on May 23.