On August 18, 2011, family members of 23-year-old prisoner Ioseb (Soso) Tsiklauri and human rights activists held a protest outside the Levan Samkharauli National Forensics Bureau. Tsiklauri’s father, Zurab Tsiklauri, arrived with photos of his son and posters reading “Please don’t kill my son.”

According to Zurab Tsiklauri, he had been waiting in vain for two months for an expert conclusion that would allow him to petition the court for his son’s sentence to be postponed. He accused the National Forensics Bureau of negligence.

The prisoner’s father was awaiting two expert assessments — to determine the severity of his son’s illness and whether treatment in prison was possible given his condition. Ioseb Tsiklauri, who suffered from tuberculosis, had been sentenced two years earlier to 10 years and 6 months in prison for hooliganism and illegal possession of weapons. His father stated that his son entered prison healthy and contracted the illness there. For two months, he was treated at the National Center for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases. Lawyer Jumber Milorava added that, despite being unable to move, Tsiklauri had been kept handcuffed to his bed.

The case drew political attention. The recently established parliamentary faction Unity for Justice, led by MP Gia Tsagareishvili, held a press conference and later joined the protest outside the Forensics Bureau with MP Dimitri Lortkipanidze.

During the protest, participants were told that the forensic report on Tsiklauri’s health was ready but still required the signature of the bureau’s head, Giorgi Khizanishvili. Protesters did not receive an answer as to when the document would be signed.

The Public Defender, Giorgi Tugushi, stated that compared to 2010, both the rate of disease and deaths from illness among prisoners had increased. He noted: “There are many cases where prisoners are in extremely poor health, yet no motion is filed before the court, or when it is, the likelihood of approval remains very low.”

On September 8, 2011, Soso Tsiklauri was released from prison. MP Gia Tsagareishvili, who had organized several press briefings and protests demanding his release, later called for the dismissal of Giorgi Khizanishvili, head of the National Forensics Bureau, for delaying the issuance of the health report for more than a month.