Two Interior Ministry Employees Detained Over ‘Inhuman Treatment’ of Military Conscripts

The State Inspector’s Service of Georgia, a body that monitors abuse of power by the authorities, said on April 21 it arrested two Interior Ministry Facilities Protection Department employees for “humiliating and inhuman treatment” of military conscripts.

It recalled an incident from March 14, 2020, when one of the suspects ordered a serviceman to clean a military barrack toilet with dental and shoe brushes, for one to two hours, kneeling and equipped with a flak jacket and a helmet weighing more than ten kilograms.

The detainees used such “prohibited punitive measures” against the conscripts several times, according to a State Inspector’s Service press briefing.

The State Inspector’s Service noted it detained both suspects under Article 333 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, for exceeding official powers by offending the personal dignity of the victim, and one of them additionally for using violence also. The crimes are punishable by imprisonment from five to eight years, with the deprivation of holding an office up to three years.

The Interior Ministry conscripts men aged 18-27 for one year to its subdivisions, including the Facilities Protection Department, as part of Georgia’s mandatory military service.

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