TBILISI, October 9 – Georgia’s Public Defender has rejected a claim by the lawyer of prisoner Giorgi Davitadze that an ombudsman representative advised him against undergoing a forensic examination.
In a statement Friday, the Public Defender’s Office said the lawyer’s account was false and urged Davitadze’s side to stop spreading what it described as misinformation aimed at discrediting its representatives.
According to the watchdog, documentation signed by Davitadze shows that he said he would consult his own lawyer about whether to undergo an examination. The office said this contradicts the claim that one of its representatives advised him that an examination would be inappropriate.
The Public Defender also said it had taken all steps available under its mandate to protect Davitadze’s rights. It referred the case to the Prosecutor General’s Office, which opened an investigation, and said it continues to monitor that investigation.
The dispute is the latest development in a prison abuse case that has drawn renewed attention to the Georgian prison system, which was substantially overhauled after Georgian Dream came to power.
Davitadze is serving a 17½ year sentence for attempted murder following a shooting that injured an off-duty policeman. At his appeals hearing October 2, he alleged that staff at Prison No. 6 subjected him to degrading treatment and sexual violence during his transfer to and stay in a de-escalation room on December 20-21, 2025. The Public Defender’s Office has previously said his lawyer first contacted it on December 26, after which one of its representatives visited and interviewed him the same day.
The office also sought preservation of video footage identified by Davitadze and later reviewed the material. Public Defender Levan Ioseliani said earlier this week that the footage reviewed by his office did not show the specific form of sexual assault that Davitadze later described publicly, while stressing that any conduct not visible in the footage was a matter for investigators rather than the ombudsman.
Georgia’s Special Penitentiary Service has denied that Davitadze was subjected to sexual or other violence and has released video from the December 21 episode in the de-escalation room.
