Activist in Georgia ends hunger strike after 48 days

Activist Temur Katamadze has ended his hunger strike on its 48th day, Zurab Chkhaidze, the clinical director of Vivamedi Tbilisi clinic, where he is currently receiving treatment, told the press on Wednesday.

Chkhaidze confirmed that Katamadze had been admitted to the clinic and had undergone medical tests.

“Gafar Yilmaz was brought to us yesterday evening. He underwent the necessary tests and was placed in the therapeutic ward. We explained to him about the expected complications, and I have good information that he fully understood what a 48-day hunger strike would entail, and he ended his hunger strike,” Chkhaidze said.

Katamadze was initially detained by police in Batumi under administrative regulations. However, after his release from prison, he was arrested again. Authorities later accused him of lacking legal residency rights in Georgia.

Also known as Gaffar Yilmaz, Katamadze is a descendant of the Muhajirs and has long sought Georgian citizenship. He has previously been denied citizenship three times. A passionate advocate of Georgian language, history, and culture, he was well known in Batumi prior to his arrest, often dressed in traditional Georgian attire and carrying the national flag. This earned him the nicknames “Batumi’s flag-bearer” and “flag-bearer Babu.”

Katamadze had been a prominent figure at protests, including demonstrations against the controversial foreign agents law. He stated that his hunger strike was a protest against what he calls the “deliberate, mass denial of Georgian citizenship” to ethnic Georgians from Turkey, Iran, and Azerbaijan over the past 13 years under the current Georgian Dream government.