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Council of Europe Anti-Torture Committee Returns to Georgia

A delegation of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) recently returned to Georgia in order to follow up on a visit in November 2003. Because of the political situation in November, the CPT’s delegation could not return.

The main purpose of visit was to examine the treatment of prisoners in Ajara and to review prison conditions. The delegation also returned to Prison No. 5 in Tbilisi in order to review the situation there, and interviewed newly arrived prisoners. The visit also provided an opportunity for the CPT’s delegation to discuss in detail all its findings with the current Georgian administration.

The visit was carried out by the following members of the CPT:

- Ingrid Lycke Ellingsen, Head of delegation (Norwegian)
- Marc Neve, 2nd Vice President of the CPT (Belgian)
- Jean-Pierre Restellini (Swiss).

They were supported by Petya Nestorova of the CPT's Secretariat.

During the visit, the CPT's delegation held discussions with George Papuashvili, Minister of Justice, Kakha Koberidze, Deputy Prosecutor General, and David Jinjolava, Head of the General Inspection of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The delegation visited the following places:
Police stations
- Temporary detention isolator of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Batumi
- Temporary detention isolator of the City Department of Internal Affairs, Batumi
- Sobering-up and administrative detention centre, Batumi
- 5th District Division of Internal Affairs, Batumi
- 8th District Division of Internal Affairs, Batumi
- Department of Internal Affairs, Keda
Penitentiary establishments
- Prison No. 3, Batumi
- Prison No. 5, Tbilisi
Ministry of Security establishments
- Temporary detention isolator of the Ministry of Security, Batumi.