Human rights violations “still very frequent” in Georgia – ombudsman
Kavkasia-Press news agency
17 Jun 05
Tbilisi, 17 June: “Human rights are violated in Georgia,” human
rights ombudsman Sozar Subari said today at the seminar entitled
“Problems and prospects of national human rights institutions in the
South Caucasus”, held at the Courtyard Marriott Hotel.
He also said that last year was the worst as far as human rights
are concerned as the public had expected the new authorities
to dramatically improve the situation in this respect after the
revolution. “Human rights were violated in the private sector; there
were illegal arrests, torture and violence on the part of the police,”
he said.
According to Subari, there have been no documented cases of torture
this year, but several detainees have been beaten up and several
prisoners have been left with injury marks on their bodies. “We have
already reacted to these cases,” he said, adding that unfortunately
gross violation of human rights still is a very frequent phenomenon
in Georgia.
Subari said that this year the office of the human rights ombudsman
has received four times as many complaints as last year.
The seminar, organized by the Swedish Raoul Wallenberg Institute of
Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and the UNDP, will end on 21 June.
The human rights ombudsman has said that he has friendly relations with
his Armenian and Azerbaijani colleagues and wishes to establish similar
relations with his Turkish colleagues. “We need good relations with the
human rights ombudsmen of these countries. Our citizens often go there
on visits and we should be able to count on their help,” said Subari.