The Public Defender of Georgia, Levan Ioseliani, visited the country’s former Prime Minister, Irakli Garibashvili, in prison. Earlier, the ex-prime minister’s lawyer had requested a meeting with the Ombudsman.
According to Ioseliani, he spoke with Garibashvili in his cell and discussed “all the issues that might concern a prisoner.”
“Naturally, we also addressed the reason for my visit—the cancellation of the meeting. As you know, this visit was of an incentive nature, and, according to Mr. Irakli, it was canceled.”
The Ombudsman added that he held a similar meeting with the prison administration. He assured that the facility’s management had “no intention of changing the established practice and policy regarding Mr. Irakli.”
“Periodically, he was granted the right to incentive visits, and this particular incident, according to them, was linked to infrastructural issues: renovation work was underway during that specific period, which is why the visit could not be scheduled. At the same time, the prison administration did not indicate any refusal or ban on granting him such visits in the future,” the Public Defender of Georgia stated.
A few days ago, Irakli Garibashvili’s lawyer, Lili Gelashvili, stated that he had been denied a scheduled visit with his children. She regarded this as a violation of the prisoner’s rights.
Later, the Special Penitentiary Service stated that Garibashvili, who is serving his sentence in a closed-type facility, is entitled to two long-term visits per year and may also use two short-term visits per month. According to the agency, the former prime minister has currently fully exhausted both his annual and monthly visitation limits.