A federal judge ordered a Washington, DC, jail on Wednesday to provide Chansley with organic food after the infamous rioter went on a hunger strike for over a week after the facility failed to adhere to his shamanic diet.
The order came down after Chansley's lawyer, Al Watkins, submitted an emergency motion that indicated his client was wasting away because organic meals were not being supplied to him by the detention facility.
During a hearing over the motion, lawyers for the District of Columbia jail explained that an initial request for organic food had been rejected because they found no evidence that an organic diet was a "tenent" of Shamanism, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. Officials also indicated that they had not been made aware of Chansley's dietary restrictions beforehand.
Ultimately, US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth deferred to an earlier decision that was made by an Arizona judge who allowed Chansley to be provided with his specified diet. The so-called shaman was initially taken into police custody in early January.
In the Wednesday-filed motion, Watkins noted that Chansley, otherwise known as the horn-toting "QAnon Shaman," reportedly lost more than 20 pounds in the span of several days, as he refused to consume the food that was provided by the jail.
"The defendant has not been able to consume any food since the commencement of his stay in Washington, DC, being a period in excess of one week," Watkins wrote, adding, "It is understood the defendant has lost weight in excess of twenty pounds during the last week."
Watkins argued in the filing that Chansley was an actual shaman, and that as part of his religious beliefs, he does not eat non-organic foods. Consuming non-organic food, according to Watkins filing, "would act as an 'object intrusion' onto his body and cause serious illness if he were to eat it."
He further explained that "in shamanic traditions, the body, mind and soul are interconnected, and the well-being of all three are necessary for my client to be able to practice his faith."
The filing also included an inmate request in which Chansley wrote to the District of Columbia Department of Corrections that he required organic meals, and that he'd been eating such food for the past eight years.
"I have strayed from my spiritual diet only a few times over the last 8 years with detrimental physical effects," Chansley wrote. "As a spiritual man I am willing to suffer for my beliefs, hold to my convictions, and [feel] the weight of their consequences."
The latest development surrounding the horn-toting shaman came after he pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges that stemmed from his involvement in the Capitol siege. Chansley has been hit with charges including civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding and entering and remaining in a restricted building, among other violations.
