Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
33
Amnesty International September 2001
AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
Krtsanisi-Mtatsminda district court of Tbilisi of 9
February 2001 was on grounds of “exemplary
behaviour when in detention” (his sentence was due to
run from November 1999, when he was first taken into
custody). David Vashaqmadze had reportedly been
beaten so severely by traffic police officers on the
evening of 13 November 1999 that he suffered
multiple fractures and other serious injuries, and died
in Tbilisi’s neurological hospital two days later.
The case of Mamuka Rizhamadze
(update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001)
Mamuka Rizhamadze was found hanged in his cell in
preliminary detention facilities in Kutaisi on 31 May
2000. AI received reports that police had forced a
prisoner, who claimed to have seen how Mamuka
Rizhamadze died, to testify that the death was suicide.
Mr Tavgeshivili (first name not known), reportedly
wrote to Elene Tevdoradze, Chair of the parliamentary
Human Rights Committee, claiming "I can tell you
how they killed him and how they hanged him", and
stated that the police had threatened him, after which
he agreed to become their ‘agent’. Elene Tevdoradze
is said to have publicised this new information in a
December edition of the "60 minutes" program on
independent television channel Rustavi-2 which
featured the case of Mamuka Rizhamadze. Following
the broadcast, the procurator of Kutaisi reportedly
contacted Elene Tevdoradze and stated he would open
a new investigation into the death of Mamuka
Rizhamadze. However, no new investigation had in
fact been opened by the end of the period under
review, and nor had a fourth post mortem been carried
out, which had reportedly been requested by the
Kutaisi procuracy.
Human rights defender Nana Kakabadze
threatened
On 4 May the head of Isolation Prison No. 5 in Tbilisi
threatened to “physically annihilate” a member of a
leading non-governmental human rights organization
who had criticized conditions in pre-trial detention.
Nana Kakabadze, of the organization Former Political
Prisoners for Human Rights, had given an interview to
the newspaper Alia after visiting the prison on 2 May.
She was commenting on her general observations
from such visits that, while most cells in isolation
prisons were overcrowded, there were some which
were completely empty. The head of the prison
telephoned her at her organization’s office, apparently
incensed at what he believed was an implication that
empty cells are kept for rich prisoners who bribe
officials for the privilege of avoiding extreme
overcrowding. The threat was heard by six other
people in the office: four members of non-government
organizations, a journalist from Radio Liberty, and a
member of the Ministry of Justice dealing with
penitentiary issues. The Minister of Justice is reported
to have verbally reprimanded the head of the prison
within hours of the threat.
Prison conditions and police ill-treatment
In February, the Ombudsperson released a report on
human rights in Georgia, covering the period 1
January to 1 November 2000. Her report highlighted
the gravity of the problem of torture at pre-trial
detention stage. She attributed the frequency of torture
to many factors, including an entrenched culture of
impunity
among
law
enforcement
officials
committing illegal actions, a low level of police
training, and a concomitant over-emphasis on
confessions, rather than gathering of evidence, as a
way of ‘solving’ crimes. She points out that the
number of incidents of torture is higher than reported,
since often victims of torture will come to an
unofficial agreement with the police after the event,
for example involving their release in exchange for
non-disclosure of the torture to which they were
subjected. Moreover, some victims of torture and ill-
treatment have withdrawn their complaints from the
Ombudsperson’s
office,
fearing
negative
repercussions against them or their families should
they pursue their complaint.
Overcrowding remains a severe problem in pre-
trial detention facilities, with prisoners, sometimes up
to 40 in one cell, sleeping in shifts. Conditions in
prisons are also reported to be unbearable, with
malnutrition and infectious diseases as serious
concerns. Alternative non-custodial punishments,
such as probation, fines and social work bail, are
rarely applied by the courts. A draft law on non-
custodial punishments and probation, aimed at
reducing prison numbers, was reported in May to be
due for consideration by the Georgian authorities.
Meanwhile, other initiatives, such as taking judges on
visits to prisons so they could see conditions there for
themselves, were instituted in an effort to encourage
more use of existing non-custodial measures.
Conclusions and recommendations of the UN
Committee against Torture
The United Nations Committee against Torture issued
its conclusions in Geneva on 7 May, after considering
Georgia’s second periodic report under the
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The
Committee noted some positive aspects since it
considered Georgia’s initial report in 1996, including
ongoing efforts to reform the legal system, and the
transfer of the prison service from the control of the
Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of Justice.
However, the Committee also expressed a number
of serious concerns. It considers, for example, that the
failure to launch in every instance prompt, impartial
and full investigations into the numerous allegations
of torture, as well as insufficient efforts to prosecute
alleged offenders, results in a state of impunity. It
regards certain powers of the procuracy, and the way
this institution functions, as giving rise to serious
doubts about its objectivity and the existence of an