Detained Batumelebi and Netgazeti founder transferred to clinic for ‘examinations’

Mzia Amaghlobeli, the detained founder of Georgian independent news outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti, has been transferred to a clinic for medical examination over three weeks into her hunger strike.

Amaghlobeli was transferred to Vivamedi, a clinic in Tbilisi, on Tuesday.

The director of the clinic, Zurab Chkhaidze, told Netgazeti that the results of Amaghlobeli’s medical exams showed ‘changes’ and that she had agreed to receive inpatient treatment at the clinic.

However, Amaghlobeli’s lawyer, Juba Katamadze, who visited her on Wednesday, said that the media manager wished to be returned to detention immediately.

According to Katamadze, Amaghlobeli is weakened, but her health is stable. He added that Amaghlobeli has no intention of ending her hunger strike, but that her request is for everyone who is on a hunger strike in solidarity with her to stop.

At this time, it is known that two people are on a hunger strike in solidarity with Amaghlobeli: 20-year-old Nikoloz Javakhishvili and 26-year-old Revaz Kiknadze, both of whom were detained during ongoing pro-European protests.

Amaghlobeli started a hunger strike in mid-January following her arrest.

The Special Penitentiary Service confirmed on Wednesday that Amaghlobeli was transferred to Vivamedi, where she remained for further examinations.

After meeting with Amaghlobeli on Monday, Nona Kurdovanidze, the chair of the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), stated that the media manager seemed weaker than she appeared since they last met. Kurdovanidze said that, through her hunger strike, Amaghlobeli is ‘not demanding any concessions [from the authorities] regarding her case’.

‘This is her decision in protest of the injustice occurring in the country, not just in relation to her case, but in general’, Kurdovanidze said.

Amaghlobeli was first detained on 11 January for hanging a poster at a pro-European rally in Batumi, but was later released that same day.

Soon after her release, she was detained again, this time on charges of slapping Batumi Police Chief Irakli Dgebuadze, which the Prosecutor’s Office considered an ‘attack on a police officer’ — a criminal offence which carries a prison sentence of four to seven years.

According to colleagues, Amaghlobeli's actions were followed by aggression from the police and the unjustified detention of her relatives. Additionally, Batumelebi reported that during the second arrest, Dgebuadze verbally insulted and threatened Amaghlobeli. Amaghlobeli told her lawyer that Dgebuadze spat in her face and attempted to physically assault her following her arrest.

Many international and local human rights organisations, foreign and Georgian politicians, 14 embassies and more than 300 Georgian journalists, editors, and media managers have been calling on the ruling Georgian Dream government to release Amaghlobeli from prison.

In light of the widespread assertion that the punishment Amoghlobeli is facing is overly harsh and politically motivated, some media outlets have researched Georgian criminal codes and court history to find comparative cases.

Batumelebi studied several decisions of the Supreme Court of Georgia, which, according to them, ‘clearly show that slapping a police officer is not an assault on a police officer’.

The leaders of Georgian Dream dismissed criticism, with Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze stated that ‘raising a hand against a police officer should receive the full extent of punishment, while the party's executive secretary, Mamuka Mdinaradze, remarked that Amaghlobeli ‘should start eating’ and the state will not subject to ‘blackmail’.

Several protests have been held in Tbilisi and other cities demanding Amaghlobeli's release, with one being violently disrupted by police at the Georgian Parliament on Tuesday.

Batumelebi was founded in 2001 in Batumi as an independent media outlet focused on covering human rights violations and official corruption. In 2010, Batumelebi’s founders established the Tbilisi-based news outlet Netgazeti.

Podcast | Mzia Amaghlobeli’s arrest

Mariam Nikuradze, Irma Dimitradze, and Tamar Rukhadze talk about the arrest of Batumelebi and Netgazeti founder Mzia Amaghlobeli.

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