McCain Institute includes detained Georgian media manager in its new initiative “Freedom for Political Prisoners”

Mzia Amaglobeli, co-founder and director of Netgazeti and Batumelebi, has been named as one of the key figures in the McCain Institute’s new initiative, “Freedom for Political Prisoners.”

The initiative focuses on Americans, Green Card holders, and dissidents from other countries who are either political prisoners or hostages of repressive regimes.

“The McCain Institute’s political prisoners’ freedom initiative will continue Senator McCain’s legacy of working to free hostages and bring them home safely,” said Evelyn Farkas, Executive Director of the McCain Institute.

According to the McCain Institute’s website, the initiative will initially focus on four key cases:

* Venezuela: Jesús Armas, opposition leader and McCain Global Leader
* Belarus: Maria Kalesnikava, Belarusian flutist and political prisoner
* Gaza: Israeli-American hostages
* Georgia: Mzia Amaglobeli
The initiative’s launch event was attended by Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza and Washington Post’s Press Freedom Initiative Director Jason Rezaian.

Amaglobeli has been on a hunger strike for 26 days since her arrest.

On February 4, she was transferred from Rustavi Women’s Prison to Vivamed Clinic in Tbilisi for medical examinations. On February 6, Georgia’s Public Defender’s Office announced the formation of a medical council to assess the adequacy and timeliness of medical care provided by the penitentiary system, including its contracted clinics.