Inhumane treatment bill
Tuesday, June 14
A bill drafted under Parliament’s Human Rights Committee has declared that those people who were or will be recognised as participants in torture or inhumane treatment by a court will never work in public service or hold political posts.
The prohibition will be part of a document that was being discussed in the legislative body to be finally approved. The document concerns recorded incidents of torture and inhumane treatment committed in 2014-2012 under the previous state leadership.
The head of the Parliament’s Human Rights Committee, Eka Beselia, has stated that the insertion of the part about the prohibition in the document was the initiative of the Parliamentary majority.
On June 3 Georgian lawmakers presented a document that legally assesses facts of torture, inhumane treatment and other human rights violations that took place over eight years under the previous, United National Movement (UNM) Government.
A series of videos reflecting torture and inhumane treatment in Georgian prisons were released before the October 2012 Parliamentary elections.
After the Georgian Dream (GD) party defeated the UNM in the elections, the new government seized and destroyed hundreds of videos recorded by the UNM reflecting the private lives of people, inhumane treatment and torture.
Since 2012, the Chief Prosecutor’s Office said it had received thousands of complaints by alleged victims of inhumane treatment under the UNM leadership.
A special group created to draft the document said they discussed 6,000 complains, assessed the incidents recorded there and wrote how the alleged violations could be responded to.
Now the legislative body is discussing the document to make additional notes and approve it after which recommendations will be sent to relevant bodies on how to act in terms of the alleged violations.
