TBILISI, DFWatch – The prison ministry on Thursday reported that a prisoner has died at No 18 hospital.

According to the ministry, the prisoner was convicted on June 19, 2012, for possession and sale of drugs.

The cause of death is given as heart attack, the most common official cause of death for prisoners in Georgia. He served at No 8 facility in Gldani, northern Tbilisi, and was immediately transferred to No 18 hospital, but doctors were unable to save him.

The prison ministry says in a statement that a forensic inquest was immediately ordered.

No 8 prison was recently in the news, after people living close by wrote on social media that a unit of special forces had entered the prison and attacked prisoners. But the alleged action was never confirmed by official bodies, nor did the public defender find any substantiation after immediately visiting the prison and publishing a report about the situation in this prison.

The high number of deaths in Georgian prisons is a source of concern for the international community.