Jumber Katamadze, the lawyer of Mzia Amaglobeli, the founder of the Batumelebi and Netgazeti media outlet, states that his client wants to be quickly returned from Vivamedi clinic, where she was taken for tests yesterday, to the fifth prison facility in Rustavi.
February 5 marks the 25th day of Mzia Amaglobeli’s imprisonment and hunger strike.
Katamadze says she is weakened and has difficulty moving, but still has no intention of ending her hunger strike. He claims that certain tests were conducted on Amaglobeli at Vivamedi yesterday, which are planned to be repeated today.
That morning, the Special Penitentiary Service announced that Amaglobeli had been transferred to Vivamedi with her consent for medical tests related to her medical history.
Her lawyer says she wishes to be returned to prison immediately, following the repeated tests.
He explains that the prisoner’s wish in this case prevails, since she is currently transferred to the clinic for tests and not for any special problems.
Katamadze noted that Amaglobeli, who is she is on hunger strike “for all political prisoners” is calling on people who are on a hunger strike in solidarity with her to stop their hunger strike.
“Mzia Amaglobeli also told me that the cynical statements she hears from representatives of the Georgian Dream give her more motivation to continue her hunger strike,” the lawyer says.
He says he asked Amaglobeli to end her hunger strike, as her colleagues are urging her to do, but she refuses and, at the same time, asks for the issue of her hunger strike not to be brought to the forefront.
Mzia Amaglobeli, who faces 4 to 7 years in prison for slapping a police officer, is considered a political prisoner by colleagues, human rights organizations, and politicians in Georgia and abroad.
The Batumi City Court ordered her imprisonment as a preventive measure on January 14, following her arrest on January 12 under Article 353 of the Criminal Code, which pertains to the assault of a police officer.
