{"id":20143,"date":"2025-08-12T14:51:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T14:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/?p=20143"},"modified":"2025-08-12T15:09:26","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T15:09:26","slug":"georgia-prison-sentence-for-mzia-amaglobeli-condemned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/penbelarus.org\/en\/2025\/08\/12\/georgia-prison-sentence-for-mzia-amaglobeli-condemned.html","title":{"rendered":"Georgia: Prison sentence for Mzia Amaglobeli condemned"},"content":{"rendered":"

PEN Belarus joins the\u00a0statement<\/a> of PEN International about prison sentence for Mzia Amaglobeli in Georgia.<\/p>\n

\u201cMzia Amaglobeli is clearly being punished for daring to hold the Georgian authorities to account. While she languishes behind bars and her health continues to severely deteriorate, police officers who stand accused of ill-treating her enjoy total impunity. We urge Amaglobeli\u2019s immediate release and full accountability for police abuse\u201d.<\/em> Ma Thida, Chair of PEN International\u2019s Writers in Prison Committee. <\/strong><\/p>\n

11 August 2025: Veteran Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli must be immediately released and her allegations of ill-treatment by police promptly and thoroughly investigated, PEN International and PEN Georgia said today, after Amaglobeli was sentenced to two years in prison on politically motivated grounds. PEN International and PEN Georgia further urge the Georgian authorities to end their alarming and ever-growing crackdown on dissent.<\/strong><\/p>\n

On 6 August 2025, the Batumi City Court\u00a0sentenced<\/a> Mzia Amaglobeli to two years in prison on charges of \u2018resistance, threat, or violence against a public official\u2019 under Article 353 of Georgia\u2019s Criminal Code, after she slapped Batumi Police Chief Irakli Dgebuadze during a crackdown on peaceful protests in the southwestern town on 12 January 2025.<\/p>\n

Amaglobeli was first detained<\/a> on 11 January 2025 on administrative charges after placing a sticker related to a planned strike at the entrance of a police station in Batumi, and released on bail the following day. While she was speaking to supporters outside the police station, police started detaining several of those gathered, resulting in an altercation between Amaglobeli and Dgebuadze. Police promptly arrested Amaglobeli on grossly disproportionate charges of assaulting a police officer (Article 353(1) of the Criminal Code), which carry between four and seven years in prison. Her requests for release on bail were repeatedly denied.<\/p>\n

Amaglobeli\u2019s health severely deteriorated while in detention. She endured a 38-day hunger strike<\/a> in protest at her arrest. Suffering from keratoconus, a degenerative eye condition, she started losing her eyesight<\/a> and is at risk of going blind.\u00a0At a hearing on 14 July 2025, Amaglobeli testified<\/a> about the abuse she suffered by police, including being verbally abused and spat at, being denied access to water and toilet facilities, and having her repeated requests to speak to her lawyers initially denied. Although she reported her allegations to the Special Investigation Service (SIS), a body responsible for investigating crimes committed by officials, no one has been held accountable to date. Her sentencing on politically motivated grounds generated a national and international outcry, with diplomatic missions from 24 countries in Georgia issuing a joint statement<\/a> demanding her immediate release.<\/p>\n

The case against Amaglobeli comes amid a relentless and pervasive onslaught unleashed by the Georgian authorities against independent voices in Georgia, as documented in a joint UN submission<\/a> by PEN Georgia, PEN International and PEN America. The organisations reiterate calls on the Georgian authorities to abide by their national and international obligations and to fully uphold fundamental rights.<\/p>\n

Additional information<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born on 12 May 1975, Mzia Amaglobeli began her journalistic career in 2000, and notably co-founded two independent award-winning online news sites, the platform Netgazeti <\/em>and newspaper Batumelebi<\/em>, which report on human rights violations in Georgia, as well as cases of corruption. On 17 July 2025, the Georgian authorities seized<\/a> the bank accounts of Netgazeti <\/em>and Batumelebi, <\/em>putting them at risk of closure. A staunch activist, Amaghlobeli also initiated a project called Bookmobile, which in 2021 and 2022 brought books to children and adults in numerous villages and hosted discussions with Georgian writers.<\/p>\n

Zviad Ratiani, a renowned Georgian poet and translator, remains unjustly held<\/a> in pre-trial detention since his arrest on 23 June 2025. If convicted, he faces up to seven years in prison on grossly disproportionate charges of assaulting a police officer. PEN International and PEN Georgia urge his immediate release, and for his right to a fair trial to be upheld.<\/p>\n

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