Ombudsman speaks about vicious practice by police

The Public Defender Ucha Nanuashvili said at the presentation of the report at the Parliament session that the safety of citizens is not protected during the vicious practice of so-called interviews between police officers and citizens in a police car or at police station.

These issues have been mentioned in the Parliament previous report in 2015 as well.

He stressed the targets of similar practices are mainly newly released people from prison, who are described by police as a "risk group" because of their criminal records or other reasons, using drugs.

“The safety of citizens is not protected during the so-called interviews,” Nanuashvili claims.

“We can bring as an example the case of someone we will only identify as D.S., who committed suicide. In a letter which was found after his death and which was likely written by him, he talks about psychological abuse by the police. Thorough and effective investigations need to be carried out in order to ascertain the truth," said the Nanuashvili.

He also stressed another worrying trend: the fact that nearly half of the detainees did not have lawyers in the reporting period.

It can be said that currently, Georgia has one of the best police forces in the region, mentioned Ombudsman.

However, there are some drawbacks that must be addressed.

The police shoul attempt to control people who potentially create threats to the public - as it happens in all developed countries - but this shouldn’t lead to the overuse of force.

It is still a problem which causes question marks as crimes allegedly committed by police officers in many cases are not properly investigated and those guilty adequately punished, especially with regards to police officials.

The police must feel protected by the state, but this protection and appreciation must not encourage crimes by police staff with the hope that they will not be punished.