Court Agrees to Release Teacher Nino Datashvili on Bail Amid Deteriorating Health
Detained teacher and activist Nino Datashvili will be released on GEL 5,000 (USD 1,800) bail after the Tbilisi City Court judge Tamar Mchedlishvili accepted prosecutors’ motion on October 29 that cited her deteriorating health, as she requires two spinal surgeries and follow-up treatment.
The bail release of Datashvili, arrested in June on charges of assaulting an officer, marks a rare instance of courts agreeing to replace pre-trial detention with milder restraint measures in protest-related cases. The decision followed mounting concerns from human rights groups and Datashvili’s family, who pointed to her long-standing health problems that had worsened since her arrest, leading to mobility problems and intensifying pain.
“Being released today is my salvation, thank you. I want to thank the prison administration, the doctors, and my treating physician – they did everything to improve my condition, but nothing worked, and now I need two surgeries,” Datashvili said during the court session, which she attended online due to her health condition preventing her from appearing in person.
Datashvili was arrested on June 20 on charges of assaulting a public servant, with authorities alleging she struck a bailiff on June 9 at Tbilisi City Court after being barred from entering an ongoing session due to a lack of space. Video footage from the incident shows her swinging her hands at bailiffs while being forcibly removed from the building by approximately five officers, though the force of contact remains unclear.
The local human rights organization Partnership for Human Rights (PHR), which represents Datashvili in court, said she has been suffering severe spinal and limb pain for two months following her June 21 arrest.
“The N5 penitentiary institution provides medical service to Nino Datashvili; however, her health has not improved in prison conditions,” PHR said on October 28. “On the contrary, her condition has become critically severe in the recent period, which confirms that the medical assistance provided is not effective.”
According to PHR, Datashvili underwent medical examinations at Vivamedi Clinic on August 25, which diagnosed her with spinal osteochondrosis and recommended medication and physiotherapy. The clinic advised that if treatment proved ineffective, she should be transferred for surgery. A follow-up examination at the clinic on October 24 confirmed the need for two spinal operations, prioritizing surgery on her cervical vertebrae, the group noted.
Datashvili’s husband, Godi Pruidze, spoke on October 28 about her deteriorating condition, citing loss of mobility requiring wheelchair use, persistent numbness on her right side for over a month, and severe neck pain. He also pointed to poor prison conditions, including inadequate medical care, substandard bedding, and unsanitary facilities.
“She urgently needs rehabilitation to immediately stop the process of bone and joint regression that began in prison, so that […] Nino Datashvili can be saved from becoming permanently disabled and from possible death!” Pruidze wrote on social media.
Datashvili’s case has drawn further scrutiny since early August, when the court granted the prosecution’s request to subject her to forced psychiatric examination for 20 days, citing 2019 medical records that mentioned “emotional lability” as a symptom accompanying a painful spinal condition. The decision at the time sparked outcry from psychologists, lawyers, social workers, and educators, who condemned what they described as abuse of psychiatry against government critics and reminiscent of Soviet-era repressive practices.
Later in August, Datashvili and her lawyers said that experts were secretly brought into her prison cell to conduct a psychiatric interview without prior notice. The prosecutor later confirmed the evaluation, saying it had been carried out “in the defendant’s best interests” and was now complete, with no further examinations planned.
On October 27, comedian Onise Okriashvili staged a symbolic protest outside the Tbilisi Opera building where the Ministry of Education was hosting the National Teachers’ Prize ceremony, holding a banner reading “Freedom for teacher Nino Datashvili.”
Datashvili’s release comes amid growing concerns over the health of individuals arrested in connection with the ongoing anti-government protests. Among them is journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli, who is serving two years in jail, who is suffering rapid vision loss, and Ia Darakhvelidze, a protester released on bail after the court took her epilepsy diagnosis into account.
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- 18/06/2025 – Jailed Journalist Mzia Amaghlobeli Fined Twice on Single Incident