The Amaglobeli case and the war on the independent press in Georgia

Brussels – The hunger strike of Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli, who has been detained by police for more than two weeks, continues, while the anti-government protests in the Caucasian country, which for months has been in the grip of a serious political crisis that worsens by the week, do not stop. Among the victims is the freedom of the press.

The affair involving the well-known journalist, founder and editor of the two independent newspapers Batumelebi and Netgazeti, on which she chronicles human rights violations and corruption in the country, is causing increasing concern both in Georgia and abroad. Following a court decision in Batumi, a southwestern city overlooking the Black Sea, Amaglobeli has been in custody since Jan. 14, pending a review hearing set by judicial authorities for March 4. According to Georgian law, pre-trial detention can last up to nine months.

Mzia Amaglobeli, born in 1975, had already suffered administrative detention on the evening of January 11 for posting a sticker on the outside wall of a Batumi police station promoting a general strike scheduled for the following January 15. A few hours later, she was released on bail, but on her way out of the station, an altercation ensued with the commander of the police force, Irakli Dgebuadze—who was arresting some of Amaglobeli’s associates gathered in front of the building—during which the journalist slapped the officer.

At that point, police re-arrested Amaglobeli, charging her with assaulting a public official, punishable by prison for four to seven years. According to local media, the 50-year-old journalist was allegedly threatened and mistreated while in detention, being denied for several hours permission to use the toilets and even drink water, as well as the opportunity to meet lawyers.

Georgian Public Defender Levan Ioseliani argues that the evidence put forward by the police to justify pre-trial detention is “insufficient and irrelevant” according to the standards set by the Georgian Criminal Code, as well as the relevant case law of the European Court of Human Rights. On Jan. 20, the Special Investigation Service (SIS), which is responsible for investigating crimes committed by public officials, confirmed that it had opened a file based on the accusations made by Amaglobeli and the civil society associations that immediately rallied in her support.

But the health condition of the journalist is reportedly severe and worsening, as since January 11, she has been on a hunger strike that has continued for 18 days now to protest what she considers to be a politically motivated arrest and which critics of the Georgian Dream government denounce as yet another evidence of violent and indiscriminate repression of dissent (which, in a democratic country that is a candidate for EU membership, should instead be protected).

EU stands in solidarity with Mzia Amaghlobeli on the 17th day of her hunger strike and calls on her immediate release. Free media and the right to a fair trial is at the core of EU values.
@MAmaghlobeli@Batumelebi_ge
@netgazeti https://t.co/YBzBdam9xz

— EU Delegation Georgia (@EUinGeorgia) January 28, 2025

For the time being, the accession process is frozen precisely because of the Caucasian nation’s democratic backsliding, mainly due to the authoritarian drift of the pro-Russian executive. The EU delegation to Georgia expressed solidarity with the imprisoned journalist, while for Brussels’ ambassador to Tbilisi, Paweł Herczyński, the case “is absolutely outrageous.”

According to the latter, Georgian authorities have shown “no willingness” to listen to their citizens, which only worsens the “deep political crisis” the country has been plunged into for several months. Similarly, a growing number of trade associations and human rights organisations are protesting the journalist’s detention.

Moreover, the Amaglobeli case is part of a much broader context of targeted and deliberate attacks on independent journalists carried out in recent months by Georgian authorities and paramilitary security forces acting in disguise, assaulting protesters, reporters, and opposition politicians.

Since the government announced the stop to the accession negotiations until 2028 last November 28, tens of thousands of citizens have taken to the streets and continue to protest continuously ever since. In the last weeks of last year alone over 90 journalists and workers were reportedly assaulted physically or verbally.