Businessman Tamaz Elizbarashvili, who was detained on charges of making threats, says he has started a hunger strike.

As Elizbarashvili wrote, he began the hunger strike with two demands: to be allowed to call his mother and to undergo surgery on his injured knee.

“Today is Monday, September 28. Apparently, a prosecutor who grew up without a mother has banned me from speaking to my mother by phone. For my 84-year-old bedridden, ill mother, hearing my voice is the best medicine.

“I will not forgive you for torturing my mother. I will wait for God’s wrath, which will inevitably fall upon your families for this evil. What ridiculous, petty and evil little people you are to have come up with such filth and ban me from speaking by phone with my bedridden, sick mother.

“I am starting a hunger strike today with two demands:

• Allow me to call my mother;

• Operate on my injured knee.

“The knee on which a TV Imedi employee physically injured me at a restaurant that day requires surgery. My lawyer delivered the relevant Form 100 medical document to the prison governor. I am in terrible pain, but there has been zero response from the prison’s chief doctor. Perhaps he has also been drawn into this dirty scheme to torture me, but the prison doctor would not dare torture me without having the ‘green light’ from the Minister of Justice, Paata Salia.

“Today is the first day of my hunger strike!” Elizbarashvili wrote.

According to the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia, Tamaz Elizbarashvili was charged with making threats. According to the investigation, on August 30 of this year, a verbal confrontation occurred between Elizbarashvili and the victim at a restaurant in Tbilisi over a comment posted on social media. According to the agency, Elizbarashvili threatened the victims with killing them and causing bodily harm, and later returned to the location armed and attempted to enter the restaurant in order to carry out the threats.

The Prosecutor’s Office also said that on August 31, the defendant published a video statement on social media in which he continued making threats.