Inmate Alleges Sexual Abuse in Prison, Penitentiary Service Denies

Convicted inmate Giorgi Davitadze told the appeals court that he was sexually assaulted at the hands of prison guards in a de-escalation cell and later attempted suicide. Georgia’s Special Penitentiary Service “categorically” denies the allegations and published footage to support the claim, while the Public Defender said it found “no evidence” of ill-treatment in video recordings. Davitadze, 36, the son of Avtandil Davitadze, a former Georgian Dream member of the Tbilisi City Council, made the allegations during an October 2 hearing at the Tbilisi Court of Appeals. Davitadze is serving a sentence in connection with the wounding of Shalva Peradze, an employee of the Interior Ministry. An audio recording of the hearing was published by opposition-leaning TV Pirveli.

In the recording, Davitadze can be heard telling the court that he was sexually assaulted by employees of Penitentiary Establishment No. 6. “They took me down to the de-escalation [room] and raped me — with a finger, with a hand. I am saying this here, in the presence of my family,” Davitadze is heard saying in the recording, noting that the video footage shows the guard making “movement near the buttocks. ” He notes that up to 10 prison guards took part in the abuse and did it under the cameras, yet “so that it cannot be seen” in the footage, “but they still cannot conceal it completely. ” Davitadze is also heard saying that the cameras do not contain the voice where the guards allegedly use humiliating phrases against him, and that the abuse intensified after he requested forensic examinations. He also criticized the Public Defender’s Office’s response to his allegations, claiming that its representative had reviewed footage related to his case but failed to adequately respond to his complaints. “I attempted…