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Proposal Concerning Alleged Ill Treatment of Convict

On September 8, 2016, the Public Defender of Georgia addressed the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia with a proposal to launch an investigation into alleged ill treatment of convict G.B. in the penitentiary facility No 6.

The convict told the Public Defender's authorized representative that on September 3, 2016, after having a telephone conversation in a special room of the facility, several prison officers verbally and physically abused him. In particular, the prison officers hit him with a plastic baton on his left hand and after that they were kicking him for 2-3 minutes. According to G.B., before the incident he had been threatened that he would receive additional penalty unless he stopped submitting complaints, including sending applications to the Public Defender's Office, while the chief guard of the facility and the head of the legal regime told him in a threatening tone to stop writing complaints.

Convict G.B. had multiple injuries on the body. It is noteworthy that the Public Defender's authorized representatives, after checking the records of the penitentiary facility No 6, found out that the inmate's injuries had not been documented and no notifications had been sent about the injuries to the relevant investigative body. The doctor of the facility examined the inmate in the investigative room of the facility and documented his injuries only on 7 September 2016, following the Public Defender's request.

The Public Defender considers that an investigation should be immediately launched into the alleged ill-treatment of the mentioned convict by the Prosecutor’s Office; the investigation should be conducted effectively; all necessary investigative actions should be carried out, including forensic examination for the establishment of the degree, nature, age, origin and development mechanism of the convict’s injuries; video recordings showing the mentioend incident should be timely seized by the investigation body.

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