The Georgian Ministry of Justice has issued an official response to the report on the visit to Georgia carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT), which took place in March 2023. The report says the situation in which ex-President Saakashvili is being held “is oppressive, degrading and not conducive to improving his health condition.” The ad-hoc visit took place to investigate the penitentiary healthcare issues in the VivaMedi clinic and it was believed that the main purpose of the delegation’s visit was to examine the health condition of the imprisoned ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili, who is currently a patient there. The Government of Georgia has requested the publication of the report and of its response to it.
Findings of the visit report
The report says that although the delegation heard no allegations of ill-treatment of patients by staff working on the three secure wards of the clinic, the Public Defender’s office informed the delegation of two complaints made by prisoners, regarding the ill treatment by custodial staff.
The report noted that “as things stand at present, despite the overall acceptable living conditions and the availability of a range of medical specialists and treatments, the three secure wards of VivaMedi clinic fail to offer a proper therapeutic environment, due to the final word on all essential matters belonging to custodial (and not healthcare) staff and to the total lack of respect to patients’ privacy and medical confidentiality.”
In [alleged] relation to the ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili the report stated that “in case of Mr. C [in accordance with Art. 11, par. 3 of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, names of individuals are deleted in the report] the combination of factors such as being held alone for many months, being deprived of outdoor exercise and being subjected to permanent CCTV monitoring, results in a situation that is oppressive, degrading and not conducive to improving his health condition.”
In the Committee’s view, the only remedy is to introduce management by the clinic’s medical staff over the three secure wards.
Other problems identified in the report include: the quality and handling of medical records, the restrictions on movement within the floors by the Special Penitentiary Service, the constant presence of the armed and uniformed custodial officers inside the secure wards; the permanent surveillance of the ex-President; “lack of professional independence of the medical staff working with the prisoners, etc. The Committee states that “ a long-contemplated transfer of responsibility for prison healthcare services to the Ministry of Internally Displaced Persons from the Occupied Territories, Labor, Health and Social Affairs’ is both indispensable and overdue” and calls on the Georgian authorities to “proceed with such a transfer without further delay.”
The report invites Georgian authorities “to consider introducing the automatic procedure in respect to all future CPT visit reports concerning Georgia” as well as the related Government responses.
The response by the Ministry of Justice
In its response, the Georgian Ministry of Justice said it had addressed some of the recommendations, such as equipping the wards with tables and chairs, installing telephones for inmates, promising to work on creating the necessary infrastructure to ensure that the clinic’s inmates have access to outdoor activities, and installing “complaint boxes” for inmates. The response brushed aside other concerns raised in the report, such as the video surveillance protocol of ex-President Saakashvili, the quality of medical records, the security arrangements at the clinic, or the transfer of responsibility for prison health care to another state agency.
With regard to concerns about Mikheil Saakashvili in particular, the Georgian authorities’ response stated that the ex-president had “repeatedly refused to consult a psychologist and a psychiatrist” and “constantly refuses to exercise his right to outdoor activity.”
The response by the Minister also states that the medical confidentiality of all inmates in VivaMedi is “duly protected” and that any statement in media regarding the ex-President’s health conditions “was made in response to allegations of mistreatment and deterioration of his health.”
