Imprisoned Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli has ended a 38-day hunger strike she began following her arrest at a pro-EU rally in Batumi on January 12.

The news was announced on February 18 by Amaglobeli’s colleague, Eter Turadze, who read out a letter the detained journalist had sent from Tbilisi’s Vivamedi clinic where she was transferred for medical checks on February 4 amid growing concerns about her physical condition.

“In the coming days, with the help of doctors, I will somehow try to restore my nutrition,” Amaglobeli wrote, words which will undoubtedly have come as a relief to her family, friends, colleagues, media representatives and opposition politicians, who have been urging the journalist to end her strike for fear of lasting damage to her health and even her death.

In her letter, the journalist, who is founder and editor in chief of the Batumebeli and Netgazeti Georgian outlets, referenced an incident which occurred in Georgia’s Black Sea city, Batumi on February 15, when two young boys drowned in a water-filled sewer ditch on a housing project construction site which was not properly fenced off.

“Against the backdrop of this tragedy that occurred in Batumi’s “City of Dreams” [construction site] … it is incredibly difficult for me to hear the public’s concerns about my health and life,” Amaglobeli wrote.

The journalist expressed her gratitude towards Temur Katamadze and Nikoloz Javakhashvili – also arrested at ongoing pro-European, anti-government street protests in the Caucasus country – who have also been refusing food in solidarity with her, though urged them to follow her lead and end their hunger strikes too.

“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,” Amaglobeli wrote in her letter.

As reported by OC Media, following the announcement the journalist would be terminating her hunger strike, the director of Vivamedi, Zurba Chkhaidze, relayed that a team would doctors would be commencing the “so-called refeeding process” to treat Amaglobeli’s “so-called refeeding syndrome”, “a very serious syndrome that develops after a long period of hunger strike and refeeding,” Chkaidze explained.

The journalist was arrested twice at a protest on the night of January 11-12, first for putting up a sticker calling Georgians to join a three-hour strike, and then for slapping the Batumi police chief, Irakli Dgebuadze, in the face.

Amaglobeli was subsequently charged by the Prosecutor’s Office for “assaulting a police officer”, a criminal offence carrying a sentence of four to seven years jail time. Her trial is scheduled for March 4.

During his testimony, the Netgazeti outlet quoted Dgebuadze as saying that, as a result of Amaglobeli’s slap, his sustained “visible redness” on his right cheek and ear and experienced “pain during the blow”.

The Georgian Young Lawyers Association which represents Amaglobeli claims that the journalist was mistreated in pre-trial detention; Dgebuadze tried to physical restrain her multiple times, spat at her, insulted her, and refused her water and use of the toilet for several hours.

Hundreds have been arrested in Georgia since November 28 when country wide, nightly demonstrations began in response to the ruling Georgian Dream party’s suspension of EU accession talks.

Human rights watchdogs suggest at least 400 have been detained, many of these claiming to have suffered violent physical and psychological mistreatment and torture at the hands of law enforcement.