In accordance with Article 21 of the Georgian Law on the Public Defender of Georgia, the Public Defender has addressed the Chief Prosecutor of Georgia with a recommendation to launch an investigation into alleged beating of convict Nugzar Tabagari and to ensure conducting a medical-forensic examination of convict N. Tabagari within the shortest terms in order to determine the origin and age of the injuries on his body.

On March 12, 2012, employees of the Department of Prevention and Monitoring of the Public Defender’s Office met and talked with convict Nugzar Tabagari who is placed in Establishment No. 15 of the Department of Prisons. According to the convict, on March 11, 2012, in the evening hours, when he was in the locker room of the bathroom, employees of the administration, Dima Chkheidze and Levan Lezhava, assaulted him physically.

On visual inspection, convict Nugzar Tabagari bore multiple injuries on the entire body and all the four limbs.

In conversation with the Public Defender’s representatives, the convict declared that after the fact of beating, in spite of several demands, employees of the establishment did not allow him to contact his lawyer and call the Public Defender’s Office.

It should be noted that, during the past years, convict N. Tagabari has indicated on several occasions that employees of Establishment No. 15 of the Department of Prisons ill-treated him. It is known that investigation into the aforementioned facts is under way and, at this stage, no concrete persons have been held criminally accountable.

In the past, during meetings with the Public Defender’s representatives, N. Tabagari declared on several occasions that he did not feel safe in Establishment No. 15 and asked to be transferred to another penal establishment. In connection with the aforementioned, the Public Defender’s Office has addressed the Head of the Department of Prisons in writing on several occasions, though none of letters have been followed by a response.