The Parliament voted down a proposal by the opposition lawmakers on March 28 to set up a group of parliamentarians to probe into the March 27 Tbilisi prison riot, which resulted in the death of at least seven inmates.
 
Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights, MP Koka Guntsadze, demanded personal permission to enter the prison and become acquainted with the situation on the ground.
 
“There is real ground to question the version voiced by Justice Minister [Gia Kavtaradze]. We want to clarify whether it was a riot, a jailbreak attempt, mass disorder or a result of Bacho Akhalaia’s [chief of the prison system] cruel and inhuman actions [against inmates],” MP Guntsadze said at the Parliament’s session on March 28.
 
Parliamentarians from the ruling National Movement party hailed measures taken by the police to suppress the riot and accused the opposition of supporting, as they put it, the “criminal world.”

But opposition parliamentarians say that prison officials, as well as Justice Minister Gia Kavtaradze should be held responsible for the riot, because the officials claim that they had information about the planned riot but failed to prevent it.