On January 26, 2022, Nino Lomjaria, Public Defender of Georgia, met with Régis Brillat, Executive Secretary of the Committee against Torture (CPT), in Strasbourg.

The Public Defender thanked the Committee for paying a visit to Georgia last year, which, according to her, significantly raised the interest of the Georgian authorities in the problems existing in the country's penitentiary establishments.

Nino Lomjaria briefed Régis Brillat on the mandate of the Public Defender and spoke about the challenges existing in closed institutions, as well as the activities of the medical council set up by the Public Defender to monitor Mikheil Saakashvili's health condition.

The Public Defender reviewed the situation of persons detained in the occupied territories, stressed the importance of the monitoring mission and asked the Committee for the Prevention of Torture to put the issue of the monitoring of closed facilitis in the occupied territories of Georgia on the agenda.

She also spoke about the details of the abolition of the State Inspector’s Office, noting that the Public Defender’s Office has already applied to the Constitutional Court with a request to declare the abolition unconstitutional.

The Public Defender invited members of the Committee for the Prevention of Torture to Georgia in order to discuss the challenges existing in closed establishments in a joint format.