Released Prisoner Claims Compensation from the Ministry of Corrections

Tomorrow, on May 11, at 12:00 pm Human Rights Center will hold a press-conference in the press-club of the news agency PIA about the case of Tamaz Rasoyan, former prisoner and torture victim. He claims compensation from the Ministry of Corrections – 500 000 GEL. Tamaz Rasoyan will also participate in the press-conference, who was released from the courtroom on May 5 with the legal advocacy of Human Rights Center. 

On May 5, Judge Besik Bugianishvili at the Criminal Collegium of the Tbilisi City Court satisfied the solicitation of Human Rights Center on postponing the imprisonment term for Tamaz Rasoyan based on Article 283 of the Criminal Procedural Code – grave health conditions. Tamaz Rasoyan was freed from the court room.

Tamaz Rasoyan spent 12 years in the prison. He was subjected to torture and inhuman treatment several times, as a result of what he got serious diseases. Despite multiple petitions of Human Rights Center, the Ministry of Corrections refused to early-release the tortured convicted person although his diagnose met the criteria set up in the resolution of the Minister of Labor, Healthcare and Social Welfare about the list of grave and incurable diseases that may become basis for the early release of a convicted person. Consequently, Tamaz Rasoyan’s eyesight was significantly worsened and he was under risk of getting blind. He needs immediate surgical operation that could not be done in the jail hospital, as his doctor wrote in the medical notification.

It is noteworthy that on May 17, 2013 Tamaz Rasoyan was found a victim in the case of prisoners’ torture in the Prison # 6. Based on the victim document, Tamaz Rasoyan was beaten and tortured in prison # 6 as a result of what he received physical and moral damage.

Tamaz Rasoyan witnessed the riot in Ortatchala prison in 2006. On October 15, 2012 Human Rights Center published his testimony and provided the prosecutor’s office with the information he shared with the organization.

Human Rights Center appealed the court to compensate Rasoyan for his torture by the prison personnel. The former convicted person claims the Ministry of Corrections to pay him compensation of 500 000 GEL for physical and moral damage. The trials into the compensation case will start on May 18.

Human Rights Center