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TBILISI: Jailed journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli gets weaker every day as her hunger strike has reached three weeks in Rustavi, a town near the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, her lawyer says.
Now the 49-year-old is having difficulty walking the short distance from her cell to the room where they usually meet, and human rights officials, colleagues and family fear for her life.
Amaghlobeli was arrested Jan. 12 during an anti-government protest in the coastal city of Batumi, one of over 40 people in custody on criminal charges from a series of demonstrations that have hit the South Caucasus nation of 3.7 million in recent months.
The political turmoil follows a parliamentary election that was won by the ruling Georgian Dream party, although its opponents allege the vote was rigged.
Its outcome pushed Georgia further into Russia's orbit of influence. Georgia aspired to join the European Union, but the party suspended accession talks with the bloc after the election.
As it sought to cement its grip on power, Georgian Dream has cracked down on freedom of assembly and expression in what the opposition says is similar to President Vladimir Putin's actions in neighboring Russia, its former imperial ruler.
Accusations of fomenting revolution
Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze defended the actions of his government, accusing the protesters of seeking "to inflict harm on the state” and trying to stage a revolution akin to the uprising in Ukraine in 2014 that ousted a pro-Kremlin leader.
Georgian Dream last year adopted a series of laws similar to ones in Russia imposing restrictions on rights groups and media outlets and severely curtailing LGBTQ+ rights. Those laws, condemned by the EU, also drew protests.
Amaghlobeli, founder of two prominent independent media outlets in Georgia, faces charges of assaulting a police officer, with a possible prison sentence of up to seven years.
Many of those detained by police have reported being abused physically and verbally by police or while in detention. International human rights groups are sounding the alarm.
“All of that paints a picture of an aggressive campaign to halt these demonstrations of which the large majority are reported to have been peaceful,” Alice Jill Edwards, the U.N. special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, told The Associated Press.
Allegations of abuse in custody
A video released by the media showed Amaghlobeli slapping Batumi's police chief in the protest. Witnesses and her lawyers say police physically and verbally abused her beforehand, and the slap was her reaction to it.
The abuse continued while in custody, when the police chief “spat in Mzia’s face and denied her access to drinking water or using the toilet,” her lawyer, Juba Sikharulidze, told AP.
Authorities were investigating the accusations, the lawyer said. The Interior Ministry has not responded to an AP request for comment.
Kobakhidze has said authorities would investigate any excessive use of force, but in Amaghlobeli’s case, her actions came “in front of cameras.”
“This crime is absolutely clear,” the prime minister said.
Amaghlobeli, who founded the independent media sites Batumelebi and Netgazeti, began a hunger strike in protest, and now Georgian and Western rights advocates say her life is in danger.
Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that Amaghlobeli’s situation “requires urgent action.”
“This is not just a matter of freedom and imprisonment – this is a matter of life and death. And I very much hope that the authorities will act with the necessary speed in this extremely difficult situation,” O’Flaherty was quoted by the outlet as saying.
Amaghlobeli's arrest has had a chilling effect on other journalists, said Nestan Tsetskhladze, editor of Netgazeti.
“If this is how they are treating the founder of the most prominent independent media, a director and media manager who is free from any political influences and influential groups, others can be treated the same way or even worse,” Tsetskhladze told AP.
Prominent actor sees a Kafkaesque scene
Another prominent Georgian jailed for taking part in protests is Andro Chichinadze, a theater and film actor. Chichinazde, 28, actively participated in the protests that reignited in November.
Police raided his home and arrested him Dec. 5, and he faces charges of “participating in group violence,” punishable by up to nine years in prison.
His lawyers say prosecutors have videos of Chichinadze swinging a stick and throwing a bottle, which they allege was hurled at him by police. They also say there is no evidence he hit anyone and no one has come forward as a victim of his alleged violence.
Chichinadze denied the accusations. At a pre-trial detention hearing, he compared himself to a “Kafka character who is on trial and could not figure out what is happening to him.”
His mother, Lika Guntsadze, called the case against her son “absurd, just absurd” in an interview with AP.
Plans for harsher penalties
More arrests — so far on petty "administrative" charges punishable by fines or short stints in jail — took place over the weekend, during continued demonstrations in Tbilisi. On Monday, police said a total of 31 people had been detained.
According to media reports, some were released shortly afterward. Many reported physical abuse by police both during their arrest and after being taken into police vans, according to the office of Georgia's Public Defender, a human rights ombudsman elected by parliament.
Georgian Dream announced plans Monday to adopt harsher punishment for both criminal and administrative offenses that protesters can be accused of, including increased jail time, higher fines and prison terms.
Eka Gigauri, executive director of Transparency International Georgia, told AP she believed the government was “using the Russian and Belarusian playbook” in targeting government opponents.
“There is nothing new in how they attack the civic activists,” she said. “This was happening in Russia years ago.”
The mother of Andro Chichinadze, the actor who was arrested, echoed this sentiment, in describing the crackdown that followed Georgia's aspirations to join the EU.
“We chose Europe and were taken to Russia,” Lika Guntsadze said.