The Council of Europe's anti-torture committee, the CPT, has published recommendations following a visit it made to Georgia in November 2012.
The visit followed the broadcast by several TV stations in September 2012 of videos allegedly showing severe abuse of detainees at Gldani prison in Tbilisi. The CPT also visited a second prison, in Kutaisi, the country's second city. Other issues raised in the report include widespread overcrowding, inadequate conditions of detention and standards of healthcare provision for prisoners.
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The CPT organises visits to places of detention, in order to assess how persons deprived of their liberty are treated. These places include prisons, juvenile detention centres, police stations, holding centres for immigration detainees, psychiatric hospitals, social care homes, etc.
CPT delegations have unlimited access to places of detention, and the right to move inside such places without restriction. They interview persons deprived of their liberty in private, and communicate freely with anyone who can provide information.
The CPT's full title is the "European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment". This highlights two important features: first, it is European in coverage, and second, it not only covers "torture", but also a whole range of situations which could amount to "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment".
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Georgia and the Council of Europe
