Relatives of the convicted Davitadze held a protest in Rustavi.
Relatives of the convicted Georgy Davitadze, who accused the staff of the Rustavi prison of sexualized violence, demanded the full version of the surveillance camera recording to be made public.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", the convicted Georgy Davitadze stated in court that he had been subjected to sexualized violence in a solitary cell of Rustavi prison No. 6. According to him, up to 10 guards were involved in the violence, but none of the staff he named have been held accountable. On October 2, participants of a daily protest spoke in support of Davitadze.
The Georgian penitentiary service rejected the inmate's accusations. However, in the video published by the penitentiary service regarding Davitadze's case, it is visible that the guards were wearing latex gloves, reported the Pirveli TV channel. According to Davitadze, the violence occurred within the view of the surveillance cameras, but the staff positioned themselves in such a way that their actions were not fully captured on video, JAMnews reported.
On October 3, relatives of the convicted Georgy Davitadze held a protest near penitentiary institution No. 6 in Rustavi, reports "Interpressnews".
Protest participants demanded the full version of the video recording to be made public, which they believe could confirm the information about the violence against the convict.
Georgy Davitadze's mother, Irma Davitadze, believes that the guards who, according to her, use violence against inmates should be punished. "They use violence against inmates, and I will not forgive this. They must be held accountable for all of this," the agency quoted her as saying.
According to the woman, the penitentiary service only published a fragment of the video "lasting 2-3 seconds" to cover up what happened.
"These 10 [staff members] surrounded Georgy, who fell and went limp on the bed, and turned everything on him. The movements of their hands are visible, what they did. The other [staff members] formed a wall so that this was not clearly visible. In addition, there are five more files that the Rustavi prosecutor's office was obliged to show me. Some [...] refuse to believe this, claiming that we made it up; let them publish the footage with sound," the publication quoted Irma Davitadze's words.
Protest participants accused the prison staff of trying to silence the protest
During the protest, there was a verbal exchange between the protesters and prison staff who were riding ATVs. The participants of the protest suggested that the staff were intentionally making noise so that the inmates could not hear the protesters.
However, the staff of the institution stated that they do not hinder the participants of the protest from conducting their demonstration and do not restrict them. "We are diligently fulfilling our duties, calm down," the agency quoted one of the staff members as saying to a protest participant.
It should be noted that in 2012, ahead of the parliamentary elections, the then-opposition party "Georgian Dream" released video footage of the torture and humiliation of inmates in the Gldani prison. This caused mass protests in Georgia.
Mikheil Saakashvili, who was then the president of Georgia, dismissed the Minister of Corrections and removed the prison staff from their duties, temporarily transferring their functions to police officers. Citing the released footage, representatives of the "Georgian Dream" repeatedly mentioned "the broom rape" as an example of human rights violations during Saakashvili's rule.
In 2016, the Georgian publication "Kronika Plus" published the full video recording, concluding that "there was no broom rape."