A former Georgian jailer who fled to Belgium and leaked to the video evidence of prison r*pe and torture to state TV says the atrocities were aimed against the enemies of the president. The video triggered mass protests in the country.
The fugitive guard claimed that torture victims were chosen by the administration of the Gldan Prison for political reasons.
“Those who have been tortured, including criminal bosses, were mostly the ideological enemies of (President) Saakashvili,” Vladimir Bedukadze stated in a Skype interview with one of Georgia’s opposition TV channels.
Thousands have spent three days on the streets in several cities after national TV channels broadcast video evidence of torture and rape in the Tbilisi prison.
He also added that all the most valuable video footage is now stored in a safe-deposit box belonging to Interior Minister Bacho Akhalaya.
"The videos include prisoners’ being murdered and perverse r*pe, torture of mentally sick inmates, who should not be kept in jail at all,” Bedukadze said.
Akhalaya has resigned in the wake of the protests, alongside a junior minister.
Bedukadze also accused Akhalaya and senior official Megis Kardava of ordering the brutal murder of former Defense Ministry Colonel Sergo Tetradze, who reportedly di*d in custody.
He says the colonel was raped and it was filmed, with the video ordered by the Minister of Interior. The authorities accused the colonel of spying.
He apologized before Tetradze’s family, promising that after power is changed in the country, a lot more details of the colonel’s d*ath will emerge.
Bedukadze added he is ready to testify in court.
President Mikhail Saakashvili condemned the outrageous acts and vowed to completely reorganize the penitentiary system in the country. Until then, the president put police in charge of the prisons.
An investigation was initiated and 15 guards suspected of torture were detained.
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