Gldani Prison Scandal
On 18 September, 2012, Georgian national TV channels broadcast video footage of multiple tortures and sexual assault committed by jailers
against prisoners in Gldani Prison in the capital Tbilisi. In response to footage including prisoners beaten with rubber truncheons and molested with household brooms, large numbers of Georgian citizens joined protest rallies across the country. Georgian students responded in unprecedented numbers, condemning
conditions in the country’s penitentiary system and inhumane treatment of prisoners. This discontent spurred a sense of a broader failure of Georgian democracy and a desire for broader political reform. They emphasized that this scandal embodied systemic injustices
rather than an isolated case of misbehavior .
The students also protested absence of institutionalized freedom of expression and Georgia’s lack of an independent, impartial media. In response, the government
yielded and announced parliamentary elections, in which a majority of Georgians supported the opposition Georgian Dream party. On 2 October 2012, President Saakashvili conceded defeat to Bidzina Ivanishvili and his Georgian Dream party in the previous
day’s election.
against prisoners in Gldani Prison in the capital Tbilisi. In response to footage including prisoners beaten with rubber truncheons and molested with household brooms, large numbers of Georgian citizens joined protest rallies across the country. Georgian students responded in unprecedented numbers, condemning
conditions in the country’s penitentiary system and inhumane treatment of prisoners. This discontent spurred a sense of a broader failure of Georgian democracy and a desire for broader political reform. They emphasized that this scandal embodied systemic injustices
rather than an isolated case of misbehavior .
The students also protested absence of institutionalized freedom of expression and Georgia’s lack of an independent, impartial media. In response, the government
yielded and announced parliamentary elections, in which a majority of Georgians supported the opposition Georgian Dream party. On 2 October 2012, President Saakashvili conceded defeat to Bidzina Ivanishvili and his Georgian Dream party in the previous
day’s election.