According to media reports, Elene Khoshtaria was transferred today from the penitentiary facility to Todua Clinic. Video footage released by the media shows her being transported in a wheelchair. Elene Khoshtaria, who is currently in detention, suffers from an inflammatory spinal condition. Months ago, her health problems had already forced her to use a walking stick, and she was even struggling to hold a pen. For these reasons, she had spent several months receiving examinations and treatment at Vivamedi Clinic.

The footage showing Elene Khoshtaria’s condition is yet another reminder of the heavy price the Ivanishvili regime makes people pay for fighting for freedom.

Elene is a political prisoner. She is behind bars simply because she refused to accept injustice and refused to remain silent. Even from prison, she continues to fight for her country’s European future. As Transparency International Georgia pointed out in its earlier publications, the act attributed to her could, at most, have warranted administrative liability, not criminal liability. Moreover, the sentence imposed on her—one and a half years’ imprisonment—is excessively harsh and disproportionate to the conduct of which she has been accused.

Furthermore, given her medical condition, keeping her in a penitentiary facility is incompatible with the standards established by international human rights instruments binding on Georgia and by the Constitution of Georgia, which prohibit torture and inhuman or degrading treatment.

Bidzina Ivanishvili and Georgian Dream bear full legal and political responsibility for Elene Khoshtaria’s imprisonment, health and safety. They are the ones who have created a repressive system that punishes political opponents and uses imprisonment as a tool to silence dissent.

We demand Elene Khoshtaria’s immediate release and that she be provided with all necessary medical care.

We believe that the time will come in Georgia when all those who issued orders and deliberately acted against Georgian citizens fighting Russian influence in Georgia and for our country’s European future will be held accountable. The time will come when justice will prevail and the rule of law will triumph!

Freedom for Elene Khoshtaria!

Freedom for all political prisoners!