Mzia Amaglobeli, co-founder and director of independent outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti, was sentenced to two years in prison in August 2025 over an altercation with a police chief, in a case denounced by CPJ and partners as “disproportionate and politicized.”
Police in the western city of Batumi arrested Amaglobeli on January 12 after a dispute in which the journalist slapped the city’s police chief. Amaglobeli was charged with “attacking” a police officer, subject to a minimum four-year sentence, but the court reclassified it as “resistance, threat or violence” against an official and sentenced her to two years on August 6, 2025.
Amaglobeli’s lawyers and rights groups have argued that her pretrial detention and criminal charge were legally unjustified and in reprisal for the work of the award-winning independent outlets she runs.
Authorities have failed to adequately investigate allegations that Amaglobeli was unlawfully detained hours before her arrest and that the police chief spat in her face and mistreated her during her second detention. Her health and eyesight have severely deteriorated in jail.
Leading politicians, including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze, have sought to smear Amaglobeli by alleging that the altercation was “ordered” by the political opposition or unnamed foreign powers. In July, tax authorities seized the two outlets’ bank accounts.
Amaglobeli’s jailing comes amid a sharp decline in press freedom and authoritarian turn by the ruling Georgian Dream party. Authorities have enacted a raft of repressive laws against the press, while police have enjoyed full impunity for brutal attacks on journalists.
CPJ emailed the press office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which oversees the police, and the Prosecutor’s Office for comment but did not receive any replies.