The Commissioner for Human Rights addressed the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia R.K. Smyr with a request to take urgent measures to ensure proper order and safety for all detainees located in Dranda remand prison. The reason for the action was the recent murder of Astamur Dzidzaria in one of the cells of the pre-trial detention center on February 4, 2020.

In her statement, the Commissioner stressed that the murder indicates significant violations of the detention regime in the pre-trial detention facility, as well as general ineffectiveness of the prosecutor's supervision in places of temporary custody of suspects and places of imprisonment. Over the past few years, a number of incidents took place in the pre-trial detention center of the RA MIA which can be classified as criminal offenses.

Shakryl noted that «Numerous cases of violation of the detention protocol by accused and convicted persons, indicate inability on the side of administration to properly coordinate the work of the remand prison, inability to ensure the application of internal regulations and compliance with the established procedure for detention, execution and serving of sentences. In this situation, the rights and responsibilities of the accused and convicted, including the right to safety, can not be guaranteed and safeguarded.»

According to part 1 of article 10 of the Law of the Republic of Abkhazia "On the detention of suspects and those convicted of committing crimes", convicts serving sentences in correctional facilities and those detained on suspicion can be kept in one correctional institution, but in isolation from one another. With regard to A.G. Dzidzaria, this legal requirement was not met. Similar requirements are specified in paragraph “a”, part 2, article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which read as follows: Accused persons shall save in exceptional circumstances, be segregated from convicted persons, and shall be subject to separate treatment appropriate to their status as unconvicted persons.

The Commissioner urged the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Abkhazia to conduct a thorough investigation of the case of murder of the accused A.G. Dzidzaria, as well as to conduct an effective investigation of the circumstances and causes for this and other listed cases of violation of protocol in the remand prison.