State Inspector’s Office fines Justice Ministry, Penitentiary Service for ‘illegal release’ of Saakashvili videos

The State Inspector’s Office studied how ‘proportional, adequate and legitimate’ the steps taken by the Special Penitentiary Service and the Ministry of Justice when they released the videos were. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.

Agenda.ge, 07 Dec 2021 - 14:29, Tbilisi,Georgia

Georgia’s State Inspector’s Office, which studies alleged offences committed by law enforcement agencies and officers, has fined the country’s Justice Ministry and the Special Penitentiary Service 2,000 GEL for the release of videos of former president Mikheil Saakashvili in prison. 

The State Inspector’s Office says that the Justice Ministry and the Special Penitentiary Service of Georgia violated the law on personal data when they released the videos showing Saakashvili eating certain food and receiving food supplements while on hunger strike, as well as his transfer from Rustavi prison to Gldani prison hospital last month. 

The agency said that the ministry and the Special Penitentiary Service must ensure the videos are deleted from social media, as well as from official, governmental accounts, noting that the videos showing Saakashvili’s transfer to Gldani prison ‘insulted the dignity of the former president.’