According to the statement made by several non-governmental organizations, the NGOs believe that torture and inhuman treatment common to the penal system in recent years remain without due response.

According to them, in September of last year, after the release of the video footages depicting facts of torture and inhuman treatment in detention facilities, non-governmental organizations stated that ill-treatment and investigation of such facts were a systemic problem, something that the public defender as well as non-governmental organizations had noted for years.

The NGOs believe the disseminated video material is only one instance of this systemic problem.

“For this exactly reason, NGOs, alongside other demands, have required that an independent, impartial and effective investigation be conducted into all the facts of torture and ill-treatment, including those reflected in the video footages. Moreover, an idea emerged that one public prosecutor enjoying high public trust be equipped with the mandate and responsibility for conducting investigations as well as the right to use human or technical resources at his disposal to focus on the investigation of the facts of torture and ill-treatment and, finally, in order to ensure a high-inclusion and monitoring of civil society, a council staffed with professional lawyers, doctors and psychologists  be created under the public prosecutor to interview prisoners in penal institutions across the entire country, collect evidence, and hand it over to the public prosecutor. Despite a great public interest to similar investigations, effective steps taken in this respect have not been observed. Investigators do not conduct active interviewing of convicts in prisons for information gathering purposes and the public has not been adequately informed about the progress of the investigations to this day", - says the NGO statement.

According to the NGOs again, the 32nd annual report of Human Rights Watch and the information note made by Michael Jansen and Boris Cilevich, the Council of Europe's co-reporters, speak about the importance and necessity of investigating allegations of torture and ill-treatment.

Based on the above, the NGOs state that their demands posed in September 2012 are still topical.

To identify and carry out effective investigation into cases of torture and inhuman treatment in penitentiary institutions, the NGOs request to: 

1) Grant a special group the mandate to investigate allegations of torture and inhuman treatment in the shortest time;

2)  Secure the formation of the council composed of professional lawyers, doctors, and psychologists that will interview inmates in the penitentiary institutions across the entire country and collect relevant evidence;

3) Keep the public actively and regularly informed on the progress of the investigation into allegations of torture and inhuman treatment;

"We also require that effective steps be taken to ensure the rehabilitation of victims of torture and inhuman treatment" - the NGOs note in the statement.

The statement is signed by the following non-governmental organizations: the Georgian Young Lawyers Association, Transparency International Georgia, The Global Initiative on Psychiatry - Tbilisi, Article 42 of the Constitution , International Society for Fair Elections and Democracy, Public Defender, Penal Reform International, Open Society – Georgia Foundation, the Georgian Charter of Journalistic Ethics, Youth for Justice - Georgia: Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims.