The Special Investigation Service (SIS) announced in a 22 August briefing that an escort officer of the 3rd Division of the Special Penitentiary Service which oversees escorts has been arrested in connection with the prisoner injured on 20 August at the Mental Health and Drug Addiction Prevention Center.
Per the SIS the officer was arrested under Article 342 (2) of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which implies the neglect of official duties resulting in death or grave consequences. The charges carry a possible sentence of 2-5 years imprisonment.
Bacho Kvaratskhelia, head of the SIS’ investigative division, denoted during the briefing yesterday that the officer in question was “moving around with a staff weapon without the protection of the norm of prudence.”
Kvaratskhelia also stated that the officer left the prisoner in the “corridor without visual supervision, to whom he should have required to enter the medical room where he was placed and only if necessary, to leave the room with the permission of the penitentiary staff.”
The SIS concluded that the prisoner was able to sneak up on the officer, steal his weapon, and injure himself “as a result of the negligent action of the officer…”
The SIS highlighted that “due to the high public interest” they released a video of the incident in question, albeit without the part where the young man injures himself. Kvaratskhelia emphasized that they continue to “investigate the case intensively.”
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