Convict Zviad Tsetskhladze is lying when he claims that he has been waiting for medical services for several months - convict Zviad Tsetskhladze is spreading defamatory information when he accuses the administration of the facility of improper treatment, - this is how the Special Penitentiary Service responds to the letter sent from the penitentiary facility by Zviad Tsetskhladze, who was detained during the 2024 protest rallies, in which he speaks about conditions in the prison that, in his assessment, are degrading to dignity, and about the absence of medical supervision.

As noted in the statement released by the Penitentiary Service, medical services are available around the clock in any penitentiary facility.

“The Special Penitentiary Service responds to the false information spread by convict Zviad Tsetskhladze, which is aimed at misleading the public, discrediting the activities of the Penitentiary Service, and represents a deliberate provocative action.

Convict Zviad Tsetskhladze is placed in Penitentiary Facility No. 8 for the purpose of serving his sentence, where, just as in all other penitentiary facilities, the rights of each accused/convict are fully protected and all conditions are created for them to unimpededly enjoy the services provided for by legislation, including healthcare and sanitary-hygienic services.

Supervision over the observance of sanitary-hygienic conditions is carried out by the staff of the medical point of the penitentiary facility. The Service has a corresponding contract with a company that ensures the carrying out of mandatory disinfection, disinsection and deratisation works at least twice a year, and, if necessary, carries out the works additionally, unscheduled.

Medical services are available around the clock in any penitentiary facility. Medical service is provided to the accused/convict in accordance with the standard established in the field of healthcare protection, and if treatment is impossible in the medical point of the penitentiary facility, he may be transferred to a treatment facility for the accused and convicts, as well as to a multi-profile or mono-profile clinic of the civilian sector.

Accordingly, convict Zviad Tsetskhladze is lying when he claims that he has been waiting for medical services for several months. He is always provided with the said service. Convict Zviad Tsetskhladze is spreading defamatory information when he accuses the administration of the facility of improper treatment.

Zviad Tsetskhladze is also trying to mislead the public when he speaks about the conditions of serving the sentence in a semi-open type facility. The convict has been assigned an increased risk of danger and is placed in a closed-type penitentiary facility. Accordingly, he cannot enjoy the rights of convicts placed in a semi-open facility.

The Special Penitentiary Service calls on the media outlets to share only verified information regarding the conditions existing in the facility and, when describing the situation, to use terms that have the corresponding legal definition,” the information states.

For information, Zviad Tsetskhladze, who was detained during the 2024 protest rallies, is circulating a letter from prison under the title: “Systemic Torture in Prison.” In the letter, Tsetskhladze refers to Articles 110 and 139-142 of the Code, which oblige the state to protect the health of the prisoner and, if necessary, to transfer him to a civilian clinic; however, he notes that the reality is equivalent to torture.