EU to help Georgia in torture prevention

The European Union (EU) has allocated one million euros on prison reform in Georgia. This became known on October 1 at the international conference, opened in Tbilisi under the project "Torture Prevention in Georgia".

The participants of the forum discussed the issues of torture prevention and efficiency of this mechanism in Southern Caucasus. The conference was attended by members of the Georgian government, representatives of the NGO sector and foreign experts.

"The issue of human rights is an important component of reforms. I hope the government of Georgia and the new Ombudsman will give special attention to torture prevention. On our part, we'll contribute to it. The European Union has already allocated one million euros on the reform in this sphere," Robert Liedel, secretary of the European Commission's representative office in Georgia, said in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Georgiy Tugushi, the new Ombudsman of Georgia, also shared with the public his vision of torture prevention in penitentiary establishments of the country. He noted that in a week from then a special group would be set up for monitoring all the penitentiary establishments controlled by the Ministry for Enforcing Punishments, Probation and Legal Aid. "For better overall efficiency of the mechanism of torture prevention, the group will include not only 8 employees of the Ombudsman's office, but also members of NGOs and independent experts," he has noted.