For months, protesters across Georgia have taken to the streets demanding new parliamentary elections.
Hundreds have been detained by authorities, among them Mzia Amaglobeli, co-founder and director of the independent online publications, Batumelebi and Netgazeti, who today faces four to seven years behind bars for slapping a police officer. Her case, many believe, illustrates that the confrontation between independent media and the ruling Georgian Dream party, which began in the spring of 2024, has reached a new level.
Amaglobeli, along with Eteri Turadze, in 2001 co-founded Batumelebi which means “people of Batumi,” the capital of Georgia’s southwestern Adjara region, during the authoritarian rule of Aslan Abashidze. In 2010, Amaglobeli and Turadze co-founded Netgazeti to reach a wider audience.
The case of Mzia Amaglobeli
Amaglobeli initially was detained on the evening of January 11 during a protest in Batumi for attempting to put a sticker with a message about an upcoming demonstration on the building of the police department. Two hours later, after being released, Amaglobeli got caught up in a confrontation between police and protesters and slapped Irakli Dgebuadze, head of the city’s police force, on the head. She was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer.
According to eyewitnesses, Amaglobeli’s slap followed repeated insults from Dgebuadze, which others claim that video recordings confirm. The journalist’s colleagues and associates don’t deny the fact that she slapped the policeman, but add that she did so under severe stress and upon being provoked by Dgebuadze.
Press freedom organizations say that the crime the journalist is being accused of is disproportionately harsh. That the court chose to detain Amaglobeli, alleging that she might commit a new crime, also caused a public outcry. Amaglobeli currently is held in a women's penitentiary facility and the first hearing in her case is scheduled for March 4.
The first victims of the ‘foreign agents law’
Georgia’s foreign agents law was adopted in May 2024. It requires NGOs and media outlets that receive more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as “agents of foreign influence.” The law’s passage followed a series of mass protests, pitting civil society against the Georgian authorities. Most local non-governmental organizations and independent media have refused to add themselves to the register in the months since.
“After the adoption of [Georgia’s] so-called ‘foreign agents law’ we, like all independent Georgian media, were expecting repression. But we never thought that we would become their first victim,” said Nino Kakhishvili, one of Netgazeti’s editors.
Following Amaglobeli’s arrest, Shalva Papuashvili, speaker of the Georgian Parliament, accused Batumelebi and Netgazeti of taking foreign funding to “develop biased political activism instead of impartial journalism.”
According to Kakhishvili, authorities have used the Amaglobeli’s slap as a pretext to punish her for leading publications that cover “uncomfortable” topics. She noted that Batumelebi had in the past faced pressure from former Adjarian leader Abashidze, and former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, but this is the first time an arrest has been made.
Kakhishvili believes that the conflict between the government and independent media has reached a new level. “Mzia's arrest became a red line. Georgian Dream has turned us journalists into activists who will fight for freedom of speech and for democracy in the country to the end,” she said.
Independent media in Georgia view Amaglobeli's arrest as an attack on press freedom and have responded with almost daily protests. Reporters Without Borders called for Amaglobeli’s immediate release, and the Coalition for Women in Journalism said the arrest was a “blatant attack on press freedom.”
According to a Reporters Without Borders report released in December 2024, more than 70 journalists were injured and some hospitalized while covering the first three weeks of the protests.
Selective justice
Mariam Nikuradze, co-founder of the independent outlet, OC Media, said that she sees Amaglobeli's arrest as “exemplary punishment” designed to show other independent media what they are up against.
“Georgian Dream's pressure on independent media has reached a new level. If previously we faced threats to physical and digital security, restrictive legislation, and harassment, now criminal prosecution has been added to it. The situation is rapidly deteriorating,” Nikuradze said.
Amaglobeli’s case, she believes, is a vivid illustration of selective justice in Georgia: “Everyone saw how police officers inflicted serious injuries on journalists, it was shown live on television, and none of the attackers was brought to justice or even questioned. But now Mzia Amaglobeli is in jail for slapping a policeman.”
Nikuradze herself expected to be arrested as early as December, when she found her name on a secret blacklist compiled by the authorities. “There were more than 40 people on that list, and about 15 of them were arrested on criminal charges. We published this information and it probably helped me avoid getting arrested myself,” she said.
Critical phase
Amaglobeli’s arrest was a well-planned action against her and the publications she leads, argued media expert Zviad Koridze who heads the regional offices of Transparency International Georgia. He pointed to the existence of video footage in which police chief Dgebuadze promised to imprison Amaglobeli on criminal charges.
“Batumelebi and Netgazeti are publications with impeccable reputations and uncompromising on injustice. Their activities have long caused concern among authorities including Bidzina Ivanishvili [founder, honorary chairman and unofficial head of the Georgian Dream]. By arresting Amaglobeli, he is punishing her personally, and he is doing it publicly to intimidate other journalists,” said Koridze.
He considers such a blatant and aggressive suppression of freedom of speech a sign that Georgia has reached a critical phase on the road to dictatorship. Increasing attacks directed at critics by Georgian Dream MPs are further proof of this. Koridze himself was attacked on January 15 at a Sheraton Hotel in Batumi.
‘Freedom is more valuable than life’
Amaglobeli arrived at her pre-trial detention hearing on January 14 holding the book, How to stand up to a dictator, by Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa. One week later, Amaglobeli went on hunger strike which she announced in a letter transmitted through her lawyer. It reads:
“I do not intend to accept the regime's agenda. I am on hunger strike. Freedom is more valuable than life. Any citizen can find themselves in my situation.
Fight before it is too late. Fight everywhere, wherever you are. Be brave, protect and support each other. Do not let Georgia isolate itself from the civilized world.”
Cover photo: On January 16, journalists held a rally in front of the Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB) demanding a live broadcast on the circumstances of Mzia Amaglobeli's arrest and the facts of her unlawful treatment. The demands of the protesters were not met. Photo source: Netgazeti.
This article was published originally on our Russian site. It was translated by Alexandra Tyan.
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