Mzia Amaghlobeli, the imprisoned journalist and director of Batumelebi/Netgazeti, has ended her hunger strike after 38 days, her colleague Eter Turadze announced on February 18, reading out Amaghlobeli’s letter sent from the Vivamedi clinic.

"Against the backdrop of a tragedy that occurred in Batumi’s Dream Town, where two minor children fell into a ditch and died, it is incredibly difficult for me to hear society’s concerns about my health and life,” Amaghlobeli writes in her letter, adding, “In the coming days, with the help of doctors, I will somehow try to restore my nutrition."

Amaghlobeli thanked prisoners Temur Katamadze and Nikoloz Javakhishvili for showing solidarity with her through hunger strikes and urged them to follow her suit.

"I feel a special responsibility to my associates, colleagues, friends, and family. I do not want my hunger strike to weaken you – you must continue to fight on my behalf as well," she wrote.

Amaghlobeli’s hunger strike prompted numerous appeals from her family, friends, and colleagues, as well as from the media representatives and opposition parties, urging her to end the hunger strike.

"Thank you Mzia! Courage to Mzia! Good health and victory to Mzia for fighting for dignity!" President Salome Zurabishvili wrote in a social media post reacting to Amaghlobeli’s decision.

Mzia Amaghlobeli was arrested on January 12 and charged with assaulting a police officer, which carries a sentence of four to seven years in prison. The charges relate to her slapping Batumi police chief Irakli Dgebuadze in the face after he mistreated her in pre-trial detention. Earlier the same day, she was first arrested on administrative charges for displaying stickers calling for a national strike.

The next court hearing in Mzia Amaghlobeli’s case is scheduled for March 4.