In Georgia, prison staff members hold protest action

At night on April 23, staff members of the prison No. 16 held a protest action in front of the Department of Corrections in Tbilisi.

The protest action was attended by 30 persons. They have claimed being pressured by the managers of the penitentiary institution and being threatened with dismissal. The delegation which consisted of the participants of the protest action was met by the Deputy of the Department of Corrections.

The protesters have left the place being satisfied with the outcome of the meeting, the "Georgia Online" reports. At the meeting with the management, they were assured that the pressure would be stopped and that they would not be dismissed, the prison staff members report.

A German expert will arrive in Tbilisi at the invitation of the Prosecutor's Office to investigate and evaluate the situation of recent years in the Georgian penitentiary institutions. The investigation, conducted in connection with the crimes committed in Georgian prisons, has come to the conclusion that is a system problem.

"The German expert has been invited because of the fact that Georgia has no experience in the evaluation of system crimes," the newspaper "National Idea" quotes Khatuna Paichadze, Head of the Press Service of the Prosecutor's Office of Georgia, as saying. The expert is expected to arrive till April 24. He together with the working group is to prepare the report on the situation in prisons.