State Inspector’s Office fines Justice Ministry, Penitentiary Service for unlawfully Releasing Saakashvili’s Footage
By Khatia Bzhalava
Thursday, December 9
The State Inspector’s Office has fined the country’s Justice Ministry GEL500 and the Special Penitentiary Service GEL2,000 for the release of videos of former president Mikheil Saakashvili in prison. According to the State Inspector’s Office, the Justice Ministry and the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia violated the law on personal data when they disclosed the footage of Saakashvili being transferred to Gldani Prison last month as well as videos showing the ex-president receiving food supplements while on hunger strike. The agency claims that the release of the footage ‘insulted the dignity of the former president’ and urged the ministry and the Special Penitentiary Service to ensure that videos are deleted from the internet.
Ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is currently undergoing treatment in Gori military hospital after ending the hunger strike, announced on Tuesday that following the release of the State Inspector’s report, two employees of the 18th prison entered his cell and informed him that disciplinary proceedings had resulted in a decision that he would not be able to receive visitors and that his right to use the TV would be restricted. As a form of protest, Saakashvili refused to take any medication recommended by doctors as long as the restrictions remained in force.
“This incident was the reaction of the Penitentiary Service to the decision of the State Inspector's Office. Naturally, the Ministry of Justice was angry because the State Inspector's Office found 8 violations against Mikheil Saakashvili,” said Saakashvili’s lawyer Dimitri Sadzaglishvili.
According to the ex-president’s lawyer, an hour and a half after the employees of the 18th penitentiary facility left the ward, the TV of the third president of Georgia was turned off. As Sadzaglishvili noted Saakashvili expressed a very strong protest over this fact and as a result the TV signal was recovered. “The penitentiary service backed off only after Mikheil Saakashvili made a very strong protest,” He noted.
Sadzaglishvili said that the ex-president's doctor was also allowed to visit Saakashvili. According to him, after the penitentiary service ‘backed off’, Saakashvili terminated the protest and continued his medical treatment.
The Penitentiary Service has stated that Saakashvili's accusations are false and that he was not being denied the right to meet with his family members and personal doctor. “There have been no restrictions on the exercise of any of the convict's rights by the Special Penitentiary Service,” reads the official statement. They called on the ex-president to refrain from making false allegations against the service and its employees.
The Opposition United National Movement (UNM) party held a rally near the residence of the president of Georgia yesterday, demanding a meeting with Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili. According to the UNM, the President has ‘a historic chance’ to end the crisis in the country by pardoning ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili.
Saakashvili stated yesterday that Georgia needs ‘universal political amnesty’ and redistribution of power. He also stressed that he has no desire to hold a high position in the government. “A whole new generation of leaders must come,” the ex-president noted.
