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Georgian Justice Minister Says Prisoners Killed in Clashes With Troops

Posted on: Monday, 27 March 2006, 06:00 CST

Excerpt from report by Georgian Imedi TV on 27 March

[Presenter] Justice Minister Gia Kavtaradze has described last night's prison riot as a well-organized act of provocation by prisoners. He added that the ministry would not be intimidated and would continue with reforms.

The ministry has released footage secretly filmed at the republican prison hospital showing crime bosses Malkhaz Zedelashvili and Paata Mamardashvili consulting with a criminal called Zurab (?Bibia) about support for a riot and jailbreak. According to Kavtaradze, it is apparent from the video that any prisoner disobeying the crime bosses' instructions was to be dealt with harshly.

Kavtaradze confirmed that there was a riot and an attempted jailbreak at 0230 this morning [2230 gmt on 26 March]. According to him, Tbilisi faced a real danger of people charged with most serious crimes making their way on to the streets. The minister said that the jailbreak, preceded by rioting, was a well-planned operation. If there had been a mass escape from prison No 5 in Tbilisi, there would have been similar attempts at other prisons across Georgia, he said.

He said that before the operation began the law-enforcement officials spent an hour trying to persuade the rioters to go back to their cells. The minister said that the prisoners refused to obey the law-enforcement officers' instructions. [Passage omitted]

[Kavtaradze] It is with regret and concern that I have to say that people were killed as a result of the operation. Also, two members of our special units were wounded and 10 others suffered various injuries.

During the operation two firearms and three pellet guns were found in the prison.

The prison itself is completely wrecked. All the doors were removed and so were the metal bars. That is why we have started moving inmates to other facilities.

Everything that happened at dawn today was a well-organized act of provocation.

Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union

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