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Anti-Torture Committee publishes Georgian responses to CPT visit report

January 29, 2004

Anti-Torture Committee publishes Georgian responses to 2001 visit report

29.01.2004 - In two responses published today at its request, the Georgian Government provided information concerning issues raised by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), after its first periodic visit to Georgia in May 2001.

In response to the CPT's recommendations aimed at preventing ill-treatment by the police, the Georgian authorities have taken measures to improve professional training and step up control of police activities. However, it is acknowledged that conditions of detention at the majority of police facilities remain unsatisfactory, due to a lack of adequate financing. 

Regarding prison establishments, the Georgian authorities have reacted favourably to a number of recommendations and comments made by the CPT. A special monitoring department has been set up at the Ministry of Justice to deal with reform of the penitentiary system. The department will systematically inspect prisons and makes proposal for legal and organizational changes. Progress is also reported in the area of combating tuberculosis. However, conditions at Prison No. 5 in Tbilisi - which is the largest pre-trial establishment in the country - are mostly unchanged. The prison remains overcrowded and the buildings have deteriorated as a result of the 2002 earthquake. The authorities' efforts to relocate prisoners and refurbish Prison No. 5 are being thwarted by difficulties in financing the completion of a new prison in Rustavi. 

Some progress has also been made at the Strict Regime Psychiatric Hospital in Poti. In particular, the screening of newly admitted patients for tuberculosis has been introduced. More improvements are expected in 2004, made possible by increased funding for the federal programme for psychiatric treatment. 

Both the visit report (published on 25 July 2002) and the responses of the Georgian authorities are available on the CPT's website http://www.cpt.coe.int

http://www.cpt.coe.int/documents/geo/2004-01-inf-eng.htm

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