Opposition Wants Bloody Prison ‘Special Operation’ Investigated

Opposition Wants Bloody Prison ‘Special Operation’ Investigated

As a result of the riot and subsequent ‘special operation’ in Prison #5 on 27th March, 7 people died, 17 were badly injured and almost 20 hurt. The president is thankful to the Ministry of Justice and the police for such a successful operation. The opposition and NGOs however are demanding that Minister Gia Qavtaradze and the Head of the Penitentiary Department, Bacho Akhalaia, should resign or be sacked.  

On the night of 27th March in Prison #5 a ‘special operation’ took place to deal with what the Minister described as a planned riot. According to the prisoners’ plan, the riot would have started in Prison #5 and would have then spread to other prisons. Qavtaradze stated the aim of the prisoners was to escape. According to the prisoners, they did not want to escape, they simply wanted to show solidarity with those who were asking for help from the prison’s hospital. The special operation in the prison started at 3 o’clock and lasted for two hours. It ended with numerous casualties - 17 prisoners have been taken to different hospitals.

After the raid took place, the relatives and friends of the 4000 inmates imprisoned there gathered next to the prison. They did not know which the prisoners were alive or dead as the prison administration would not announce who was dead or injured. Those outside the prison rowed with the Patrol Police. The prisoners were taken from Prison #5 to the Rustavi and Qutaisi prisons.  

On 28th March, word spread that Bacho Akhalaia had entered the prison at two o’clock and beat some prisoners. This same information was spread by David Gamkrelidze – the leader of the opposition party. The President summoned the Security Committee the same day saying: “Excuse me, my dear crooks, bandits, thieves and other parts of society! We are not the old government! I want to thank the staff of Ministry of Justice and the police; they acted in a very professional way. They avoided the disaster that could have happened.”

The special operation was also viewed in a positive way by Nino Burjanadze, the head of the Parliament: “There could have been even more victims, if the government had tried to end everything peacefully and without any blood.”
The Minister of Justice said that he had information about the riot before it happened: “Since January 25th, we have had information that the prison riot was being planed. The Penitentiary Department and other parts of government were ready for any kind of deterioration of the situation. It has been proved that only by the effectiveness of our action was such a danger avoided.”

Society has many questions about these concrete facts: If the government had information about the planned ‘break out’ in advance, why did they not take preventative action?  Why are they not giving any information about those who died? Why did they not allow lawyers and NGOs to enter the prison? 
The opposition thinks that it was planned by Merabishvili’s office. The government wants to shift society’s attention away from the Sandro Gvirgvliani murder to something new.  The opposition demands the creation of an investigative committee to properly enquire into the facts of the special operation. This proposal for such an investigation was not accepted by the majority.

A letter has been prepared by NGOs and the opposition side, giving their conclusions about the above events. It will be sent to international organizations and foreign embassies.

Eka Gulua