TBILISI, December 23 (RIA Novosti) – The number of prisoners on hunger strike in Georgia has risen to more than 1,000, the republic’s Ministry of Corrections and Legal Assistance said Monday.
More than 900 prisoners began a hunger strike last week demanding a review of their cases. Some also demanded abolition of an article in the Criminal Code that stipulates punishment for being a member of “the criminal world”.
The protest among convicts and people in pre-trial custody has spread to eight institutions in Georgia, the Novosti-Georgia news agency reported, although more than 90 percent of those taking part are in two prisons.
The authorities in Tbilisi have said that they did not intend to abolish punishment for those identified as “thieves in law” or members of the “criminal world”.
The Georgian government said in early 2013 that it would form a commission to identify shortcomings in the judicial system. But Justice Minister Teya Tsulukiani said in late November that the establishment of the commission had been delayed because the country was not ready to pay out the likely compensation to prisoners.
Public protests took place in Georgia last year after harrowing video footage emerged of prisoners being abused and tortured by staff in two jails. Ten prison employees were arrested and both the corrections minister and the interior minister resigned over the scandal, which seriously damaged public support for the government of the then president Mikheil Saakashvili.
