You're reading: Jail scandal fells second Georgia minister before vote

TBILISI - Georgia's Interior Minister Bacho Akhalaia handed in his resignation on Thursday as President Mikheil Saakashvili sought to soothe protests over a prison abuse scandal that erupted across a country facing an election on Oct. 1.

Demonstrators took to the streets of the Tbilisi and other
towns this week after footage showing the torture and rape of
inmates in the capital’s main prison was aired by two television
channels supportive of the opposition.

“I feel moral and political responsibility that we could not
eradicate such horrible practices,” Akhalaia said in a statement
posted on the ministry’s website.

It was unclear whether he had been asked to resign or
whether his resignation had been accepted.

Earlier on Thursday, Saakashvili named a new prisons
minister, hoping to soothe the protests that threaten his United
National Movement party’s chances of beating off the opposition
Georgian Dream coalition to win the election.

“I’m appointing the most ardent critic of this
(penitentiary) system as its head,” Saakashvili said, naming as
prisons minister Georgy Tugushi, previously the country’s human
rights ombudsman.

Tugushi’s predecessor resigned on Wednesday as thousands of
protesters blocked Tbilisi’s centre demanding the dismissal of
senior ministers and an independent
investigation.

Saakashvili’s government says the video, which shows guards
beating, punching and humiliating prisoners, as well as inmates
being raped with objects, was staged and recorded by guards who
were bribed by “politically motivated persons”.

Surveys conducted before the scandal erupted showed
Saakashvili’s party some 20 points ahead of Georgian Dream, a
platform set up by billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili.

Ivanishvili, his fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at
$6.4 billion, owns one of the broadcasters that showed the film.

ELECTIONS

On Thursday, Saakashvili also called on his opponents not to
use the case in a political fight, but analysts said the ruling
party would clearly suffer from the scandal.

“I think that this video has inflicted serious damage on the
ruling party and the problem for them now is whether they have
enough time to repair it,” said Alexander Rondeli, head of the
Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies.

“This will definitely have very negative impact on the
ruling party’s position during elections and after that, but in
general it’s good for the Georgian democracy.”

Television channels showed Prime Minister Vano Merabishvili
visiting a jail and promising protection and reform of the
penitentiary system in Georgia, a transit route for oil and gas
supplies across the volatile Caucasus region.

Several thousand people gathered outside the main Tbilisi
prison on Thursday after getting permits to see their relatives
locked behind its bars.

“I think the opposition supporters are more on their feet
now,” Mathias Huter, senior analyst at Transparency
International Georgia, told Reuters.

INVESTIGATION

Just hours after the release of the video, Saakashvili vowed
to punish those responsible and seek radical reforms of the
jails system, asking Georgia’s patrol policemen to take over
prison guards’ duties while reforms were being worked out.

The head of the Tbilisi prison, his two deputies and several
prison guards were arrested, while international organisations
and human rights groups called for a prompt investigation.

“I hope that all those at all levels who bear any
responsibility in this appalling affair will be identified and
punished according to the law,” Jean Claude Mignon, president of
the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe, said in a
statement.

Riccardo Migliori, president of the parliamentary assembly
of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), highlighted Georgia‘s obligation to stick to human
rights standards and welcomed Saakashvili’s assurances of
justice for those responsible.

Saakashvili became the West’s darling when he rose to power
after the bloodless “rose revolution” that toppled Eduard
Shevardnadze in 2003.

But opponents have accused him of curbing political freedoms
and criticised for leading Georgia into a brief but disastrous
war with Russia in August 2008.