Mzia Amaglobeli, the founder of Batumelebi and Netgazeti, who has been unlawfully imprisoned for more than five months, is experiencing a severe deterioration in her eyesight. Her lawyer, Maia Mtsariashvili, spoke about her health condition during a court hearing held on June 23.
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“According to a medical examination conducted on February 6 at Vivamedi Clinic,
Mzia Amaglobeli has suffered significant vision loss in her right eye, which has decreased to just 10%. With corrective glasses, it may improve to only 40%. Before her arrest, based on medical documentation, she had a chance to improve her vision in that eye up to 90% with glasses. Now, that possibility no longer exists. And in her left eye, her vision is 0.04 %.
As a result, Mzia Amaglobeli’s visual acuity in the left eye is essentially reduced to perceiving only light and dark,” said her lawyer.
According to a medical document issued before Amaglobeli was placed in a penitentiary institution, she had 30% vision in her right eye (which could have been improved up to 90% with glasses), and 2% vision in her left eye (which could have improved to 8% with correction).
Mzia Amaglobeli was arrested on January 12 for slapping the Batumi police chief, Irakli Dgebuadze. She has been charged under criminal law with assaulting a police officer, a charge that carries a sentence of 4 to 7 years in prison. Despite the slap, Dgebuadze wasn’t injured but claimed, "his cheek hurt." After her arrest, Dgebuadze spat in Amaglobeli’s face while she was handcuffed inside the Batumi police station. She was denied drinking water and access to the restroom for several hours. Lawyers were also prevented from seeing her for more than three hours. According to Amaglobeli’s testimony, Dgebuadze also attempted to assault her, but was restrained by his colleagues. The prosecutor’s office has not investigated the offenses committed against Amaglobeli. After her arrest, she went on a hunger strike for 38 days.
At a court hearing held on June 23, Judge Nino Sakhelashvili reviewed the request to change Amaglobeli’s pre-trial detention but decided to keep the journalist in unlawful detention, as described by Mzia’s defense.
"Every time, I hold out professional hope that someone won't commit such an injustice, but every time, I'm disappointed. The judge acted as judges in this country usually do, and kept Mzia Amaglobeli in jail.
It reminded me of Aslan Abashidze, who used to keep people in captivity and wouldn’t release them under any circumstances – that’s the kind of hostage Mzia Amaglobeli has become.
The judge said that for similar cases, pre-trial detention is a standard. This is a serious legal absurdity, as preventive measures are not based on the classification of the crime. In Batumi, for a case of the same classification, the accused was released on bail,” said her lawyer, Maia Mtsariashvili.
Mzia Amaglobeli’s criminal trial will continue on July 4, with additional hearings scheduled for July 14, 21, and 28.
Watch the Georgian News documentary: All About Mzia Amaglobeli's Case
