TBILISI, October 4 – A prisoner abuse case from last year has resurfaced in Georgia after prisoner Giorgi Davitadze raised the case in court, prompting a debate about what happened inside Rustavi Prison No. 6.
The prisoner’s lawyer contacted Georgia’s Public Defender on December 26, 2025, reporting that the prisoner had been subjected to ill-treatment. A Public Defender representative visited and interviewed Davitadze that same day. The office then immediately notified the Prosecutor General’s Office, which opened an investigation.
The allegation concerns events on December 20-21 at Rustavi Prison No. 6. The prisoner, Giorgi Davitadze, says he was sexually assaulted by prison staff in a special room used to isolate and monitor inmates considered at risk of harming themselves or others.
Davitadze is serving a 17½-year sentence for attempted murder following a shooting involving an off-duty police officer. During a hearing in his appeals case last Friday, he raised the allegation, saying around 10 people were involved and that the incident should be visible on surveillance cameras.
The Special Penitentiary Service has categorically denied that any sexual or other violence took place. On October 2, it released video footage showing Davitadze being taken to and held in the so-called de-escalation room on December 21, saying the material disproved his account.
The Public Defender’s Office said the footage it reviewed did not confirm the details of severe violence described by Davitadze, but stressed that the complaint must be assessed through the collection and comparison of all possible evidence. The office said it continues to monitor the prosecution investigation and has urged prosecutors to present the results publicly within a short timeframe.
The alleged abuse took place in what Georgian prison rules call a “de-escalation room”, used to restrain inmates considered at risk of harming themselves or their surroundings. Since such a room is designed for restraining a prisoner, it would not be unexpected to see footage showing exactly that, nor would it be unusual to see medical gloves used for a compulsory search, details which have drawn considerable attention in Georgian media. That makes the footage harder to interpret than some earlier Georgian prison-abuse cases, where the evidence was clearer.
Davitadze’s family and supporters have meanwhile demanded the release of the full video record from December 21, 2025, arguing that the footage published by the prison service does not show the entire episode. Civil society groups have also called for all original and continuous recordings, along with technical data confirming their authenticity and completeness, to be preserved and made available to investigators and the defense.
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated on October 3 that the allegation had been shown to be false, by video and other evidence.
