TBILISI, DFWatch–Only 35 out of 154 of the ombudsman recommendations in 2014 were followed, according to a report published on Friday.
22 out of the 154 recommendations to central and local government bodies, or the government officials were partly fulfilled, 47 not fulfilled at all and 28 were left unanswered.
The majority of the recommendations were sent to the Prosecutor’s Office. Eight out of 40 were not followed, nine were left unanswered, the rest were followed.
In the report there are only a few examples of recommendations which were followed. One of them was a recommendation to the Ministry of Education about the necessity of constructing a new school in Lambalo, a village in the east of the country close to the border with Azerbaijan. Children there still have to hold their classes in barns and bread houses. The only school there, which is still under construction, will be finished in summer.
According to the Ombudsman’s Office, the vast majority of the recommendations and proposals to the Prosecutor’s Office were about launching investigations into different violations like mistreatment and illegal deprivation of liberty.
Although the report doesn’t specify any particular cases which have not been fulfilled, one of them is about Chechen refugee Saikhan Muzayev, who is a Georgian citizen, who more than a dozen times wanted to leave Georgia to study, but wasn’t allowed to leave the country.
Many of the recommendations concern violence or mistreatment in prisons.
One of the recent recommendations concerned possible violence against inmates at Gldani prison in Tbilisi. Employees of the Public Defender’s Office reported that they found two prisoners in a bathroom lying on the floor, wet and with bruises. An investigation was launched, but the results are still unknown.
In 15 cases, the recommendations were fully implemented and the violated rights were restored. There were no results at all in 82 cases. In 18 cases, the ombudsman was promised that his recommendations would be followed, four of which are ongoing in court, and in 12 cases violated rights were partly restored.
The majority of the recommendations were sent to the Prosecutor’s Office, the Prison Ministry and the Interior Ministry. None of the two recommendations sent to the president were carried out. The government fulfilled 5 out of 10 recommendations.
The Interior Ministry didn’t fulfill any out of ten recommendations, the Prison Ministry didn’t fulfill four out of 16.
Ombudsman Ucha Nanuashvili said as the report was presented Friday that the figures of recommendations have increased compared to 2013.
“In some cases investigation was launched, but no results were visible,” he said about Prosecutor’s Office. He said Health Ministry is one of the best in fulfilling the recommendations.
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