GYLA States Prisoners Die Because of Ineffective Activities of the Court and Commissions

Representatives of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association [GYLA] state inmates of the jail hospital # 18 with gross diseases die because of ineffective activities of the joint commissions of the Penitentiary and Healthcare Ministries.

Chairwoman of the GYLA Tamar Chugoshvili said at the press-conference that two prisoners died in the jail hospital short time ago because the court did not timely discuss their cases.

According to Tamar Chugoshvili, on March 7, 2012 convicted Aleksandre Dadiani died in jail hospital # 18. According to medical notification, he died of acute deficiency of breathing and blood circulation systems caused by tube-intoxication. Chugoshvili from the GYLA said that according to the same medical notification the convicted was seriously ill. According to the law, the convicted [with acute health problems] was to be released from prison or should have had his term postponed but the court relied on the conclusion of the Levan Samkharauli National Bureau of the Forensic Expertise and left him in prison.

GYLA’s lawyer Mikheil Gogadze said prisoner Otar Khabelashvili had serious health problems and he was to be released or have his imprisonment postponed in accordance to the law. However, he was not released and died in jail hospital.

The GYLA states that they provide several convicted with legal aid and some of them have serious health problems though they were also refused to be released because of “absence of relevant grounds”.

“We believe that if decision-making bodies continue their approach to the issue or their inactivity with regard to those prisoners, the provision in the law about postponing – canceling the imprisonment term of seriously diseased prisoners looses sense and maybe, in most cases it will result into their death,” the GYLA’s lawyers state.

Interpresnews