It’s the early hours of the morning, but Batumi isn’t quiet. There had been many arrests that night, so activists and relatives in Georgia’s second largest city crowded around the local police HQ, on the lookout for news about the evening’s detainees.
Among the crowd is Mzia Amaglobeli. News is her business – she’s the co-founder and CEO of Batumelebi and Netgazeti, two influential independent news websites. She had been arrested a few hours earlier on an administrative charge – for placing a sticker on a building – and then released.
But she was about to be taken back in on much more serious charges.
Acquaintances of hers had just been detained, and she wanted to know why. At the gates of the building, a conversation with the man in charge - Batumi’s police chief - becomes heated, and as he turns his back on her, Amaglobeli drags him back by his sleeve and lays a light left-handed slap on his right cheek. She’s then dragged into the belly of the building, whisked away by cops in balaclavas. The scene was livestreamed.
What happened next made Mzia Amaglobeli an “icon” for Georgian protesters, who have relentlessly taken to the streets for months in defiance of their country’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, which has stopped the EU admission process and is seen as authoritarian, mimicking Russia in its repression of protesters, journalists and NGOs.
Accused of assaulting a police officer on January 11 and facing up to seven years in jail under the harsher criminal legal code, 49-year-old Amaglobeli went on hunger strike.
Her reasons were manifold: her lawyers say she was assaulted by the police chief, Irakli Dgeubadze, while in custody. They claim he spat in her face and refused her access to water, toilet and legal advice. A court refused to release her on bail, and kept her in pre-trial detention, a measure which activists say is unwarranted and illegal.
On Tuesday she ended her hunger strike after 38 days, urging other activists in jail to do so too. She is still detained but in hospital.
But she was about to be taken back in on much more serious charges.
Acquaintances of hers had just been detained, and she wanted to know why. At the gates of the building, a conversation with the man in charge - Batumi’s police chief - becomes heated, and as he turns his back on her, Amaglobeli drags him back by his sleeve and lays a light left-handed slap on his right cheek. She’s then dragged into the belly of the building, whisked away by cops in balaclavas. The scene was livestreamed.
What happened next made Mzia Amaglobeli an “icon” for Georgian protesters, who have relentlessly taken to the streets for months in defiance of their country’s ruling party, Georgian Dream, which has stopped the EU admission process and is seen as authoritarian, mimicking Russia in its repression of protesters, journalists and NGOs.
Accused of assaulting a police officer on January 11 and facing up to seven years in jail under the harsher criminal legal code, 49-year-old Amaglobeli went on hunger strike.
Allegations of police brutality
Her reasons were manifold: her lawyers say she was assaulted by the police chief, Irakli Dgeubadze, while in custody. They claim he spat in her face and refused her access to water, toilet and legal advice. A court refused to release her on bail, and kept her in pre-trial detention, a measure which activists say is unwarranted and illegal.
On Tuesday she ended her hunger strike after 38 days, urging other activists in jail to do so too. She is still detained but in hospital.
“I feel a deep sense of responsibility toward my associates, colleagues, friends, and family,” she said in a letter released by Batumelebi on X.🟥 On the 38th day of her hunger strike, unjustly detained co-founder and CEO of Batumelebi and @netgazeti, @MAmaghlobeli, announces the end of her strike and urges other political prisoners to do the same.
— ბათუმელები • Batumelebi.ge (@Batumelebi_ge) February 18, 2025
⭕️Amaglobeli's letter:
"In the wake of the tragedy in #Batumi’s Dream… pic.twitter.com/SwtWbUgo7S
“I do not want my hunger strike to weaken you - you must continue to fight on my behalf as well!”
Irma Dimitradze, an investigative journalist and Amaglobeli’s colleague, told TVP World she felt relief that her friend, role model and mentor had called off her campaign.
“For us, it was as if you had held your breath, and this moment gave you opportunity to take a very, very deep breath, and to feel the air in your lungs again,” she said.
Amaglobeli came into Dimitradze’s life when she was still a child. In 2013, she attended a high school media course run by Amaglobeli – at this stage already an established journalist – and their lives have been intertwined ever since.
“Her hunger strike was already in a stage where it was endangering her life, and every morning it was scary to wake up because you didn't know if she made it,” Dimitradze said.
But the support Amaglobeli has received is widespread. Free speech activists and senior politicians, including those at the helm of the European Union, have called for her release – and common Georgians can see themselves in her, Dimitradze feels.
“She became a symbol of freedom itself and the injustice that our democracy right now is experiencing: all the violence against human freedoms in this country eventually became represented by one woman who had had no such kind of publicity or public appearances before.”
‘Symbol of freedom’
Irma Dimitradze, an investigative journalist and Amaglobeli’s colleague, told TVP World she felt relief that her friend, role model and mentor had called off her campaign.
“For us, it was as if you had held your breath, and this moment gave you opportunity to take a very, very deep breath, and to feel the air in your lungs again,” she said.
Amaglobeli came into Dimitradze’s life when she was still a child. In 2013, she attended a high school media course run by Amaglobeli – at this stage already an established journalist – and their lives have been intertwined ever since.
“Her hunger strike was already in a stage where it was endangering her life, and every morning it was scary to wake up because you didn't know if she made it,” Dimitradze said.
But the support Amaglobeli has received is widespread. Free speech activists and senior politicians, including those at the helm of the European Union, have called for her release – and common Georgians can see themselves in her, Dimitradze feels.
“She became a symbol of freedom itself and the injustice that our democracy right now is experiencing: all the violence against human freedoms in this country eventually became represented by one woman who had had no such kind of publicity or public appearances before.”
But she is still in detention, like many others involved in peaceful protests that erupted at the end of November, prompted by Georgian Dream putting the brakes on the country’s EU accession progress. The government is accused of clamping down on them with disproportionate force.
A report published this week by a local NGO said that “nearly 500 people” have been detained on administrative charges during the protests and “the vast majority of them bear marks of police violence and cruel treatment.”
Since October, 54 people have been detained under the harsher criminal code, Transparency International Georgia reported on Monday. Forty of these are currently in pre-trial detention, including Amaglobeli, part of a trend where courts are “consistently imposing detention as the harshest restraint without sufficient justification,” the NGO said.
This is precisely what Amaglobeli’s lawyers have been arguing, but it’s an argument that has fallen on deaf ears: on Wednesday the Kutaisi Court of Appeals rejected the latest attempt to secure her release. She is next due in court on March 4.
A report published this week by a local NGO said that “nearly 500 people” have been detained on administrative charges during the protests and “the vast majority of them bear marks of police violence and cruel treatment.”
Since October, 54 people have been detained under the harsher criminal code, Transparency International Georgia reported on Monday. Forty of these are currently in pre-trial detention, including Amaglobeli, part of a trend where courts are “consistently imposing detention as the harshest restraint without sufficient justification,” the NGO said.
This is precisely what Amaglobeli’s lawyers have been arguing, but it’s an argument that has fallen on deaf ears: on Wednesday the Kutaisi Court of Appeals rejected the latest attempt to secure her release. She is next due in court on March 4.
Dimitradze is adamant that Amaglobeli was specifically targeted for harsh treatment because of her place at the head of an independent media firm.
“It was a very clear message that they just wanted to keep her in detention, and also that it was very much a case against Netgazeti and Batumelebi, not against just one person,” she said.
Just 20 hours after Amaglobeli’s detention, one of the company’s camera operators was arrested while filming a protest and sentenced to eight days’ administrative detention, Dimitradze said. When the cameraman’s phone was returned, it was wiped of all its content, she claimed.
The BBC has reported that around 90 reporters have been attacked and their equipment damaged during the demonstrations.
Just this week, Interpress reported on the arrest of another cameraman, Lasha Jioshvili, who was apparently hurt in the process, alleging that police officers used disproportionate force.
Many on the ground in Georgia feel reporting the news is getting more dangerous.
“It's a growing threat for journalists, for media, for freedom of expression,” Natasha Lomouri, executive director of free speech organization PEN Georgia told TVP World.
“It was a very clear message that they just wanted to keep her in detention, and also that it was very much a case against Netgazeti and Batumelebi, not against just one person,” she said.
Just 20 hours after Amaglobeli’s detention, one of the company’s camera operators was arrested while filming a protest and sentenced to eight days’ administrative detention, Dimitradze said. When the cameraman’s phone was returned, it was wiped of all its content, she claimed.
The BBC has reported that around 90 reporters have been attacked and their equipment damaged during the demonstrations.
Just this week, Interpress reported on the arrest of another cameraman, Lasha Jioshvili, who was apparently hurt in the process, alleging that police officers used disproportionate force.
Many on the ground in Georgia feel reporting the news is getting more dangerous.
Attacks on journalists ‘a growing threat’
“It's a growing threat for journalists, for media, for freedom of expression,” Natasha Lomouri, executive director of free speech organization PEN Georgia told TVP World.
“Unfortunately, Mzia’s case was not the first one. During the protests, there were several journalists very badly attacked, some of them have been in hospital,” she said.
Georgian Dream has also announced plans to introduce new laws targeting media and civil society organization, regional news outlet OC Media wrote earlier in February.
Lomouri describes the situation as a fight for Georgia’s future, a choice between a European future and a reality more similar to Russia’s.
“We all consider ourselves to be part of an independence war for our country again,” she said.
Georgian Dream has also announced plans to introduce new laws targeting media and civil society organization, regional news outlet OC Media wrote earlier in February.
Lomouri describes the situation as a fight for Georgia’s future, a choice between a European future and a reality more similar to Russia’s.
“We all consider ourselves to be part of an independence war for our country again,” she said.
In the case of Mzia Amaglobeli, no police officer has been suspended in response to allegations of ill treatment, the BBC reported recently.
Georgia’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Service, told the British outlet that it was investigating possible abuse of power, with 10 police officers, including Batumi's police chief, having been questioned as witnesses.
The country’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has condemned Amaglobeli’s slap on the officer.
“Everyone must understand that the police officer is inviolable, the police officer represents the state and the strength of the state,” he said, quoted by the BBC.
Since the protests started, senior Georgian Dream politicians have claimed the uprising is the work of foreign powers intent on staging an insurrection similar to the Maidan protests in Ukraine in 2013.
On February 11, Kobakhidze ordered a probe into allegations of attempted sabotage and foreign interference, state news website Agenda.ge reported.
“We see there is a coordinated attempt to harm our country’s vital interests,” the prime minister said. “Of course, the forces in question are not succeeding, but such attempts are already punishable”.
Irma Dimitradze says it “will take a while” before her friend and co-worker Amaglobeli will get back to normal after her hunger strike.
“She’s still in hospital and taking medical treatment because her health is in very bad condition, and obviously needs a long treatment, observation and so on,” she said.
But she feels that the protest movement, and values such as press freedom and freedom of expression, are safer with Amaglobeli being alive, rather than dead.
“I felt so proud of her that she found the strength to stand above her pain, above her will to protest and above everything, and realized that now it is more important to keep that symbol of fight for freedom alive.”
Georgia’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Service, told the British outlet that it was investigating possible abuse of power, with 10 police officers, including Batumi's police chief, having been questioned as witnesses.
The country’s prime minister, Irakli Kobakhidze, has condemned Amaglobeli’s slap on the officer.
“Everyone must understand that the police officer is inviolable, the police officer represents the state and the strength of the state,” he said, quoted by the BBC.
Since the protests started, senior Georgian Dream politicians have claimed the uprising is the work of foreign powers intent on staging an insurrection similar to the Maidan protests in Ukraine in 2013.
On February 11, Kobakhidze ordered a probe into allegations of attempted sabotage and foreign interference, state news website Agenda.ge reported.
“We see there is a coordinated attempt to harm our country’s vital interests,” the prime minister said. “Of course, the forces in question are not succeeding, but such attempts are already punishable”.
‘I feel so proud of her’
Irma Dimitradze says it “will take a while” before her friend and co-worker Amaglobeli will get back to normal after her hunger strike.
“She’s still in hospital and taking medical treatment because her health is in very bad condition, and obviously needs a long treatment, observation and so on,” she said.
But she feels that the protest movement, and values such as press freedom and freedom of expression, are safer with Amaglobeli being alive, rather than dead.
“I felt so proud of her that she found the strength to stand above her pain, above her will to protest and above everything, and realized that now it is more important to keep that symbol of fight for freedom alive.”
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