Giorgi Pataridze, the Director General of the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia, has commented on statements regarding the health of Elene Khoshtaria, the imprisoned leader of the “Coalition for Change” coalition. According to him, assessing the prisoner’s condition through public briefings instead of a professional medical examination is a “theater of the absurd.”
“Until we assess her actual condition together with her attending physician, this is, I repeat, truly a theater of the absurd. Because when a doctor comes out and says that a person is experiencing, so to speak, terrible pain, while at the same time they address the penitentiary service through press conferences, I believe this is simply unacceptable,” he stated.
He also added that if public statements continue instead of constructive work on the case, he might be forced to “take other steps,” though at the moment, according to him, he is acting in the interests of the convict.
“If we continue to speak through press conferences and do not move to concrete work and managing the process, then I will be forced to take other steps. However, in this case, I am protecting the interests of the convict,” Pataridze said.