Around 50 Georgian media outlets strike in solidarity with detained Mzia Amaglobeli
On January 14, around 50 Georgian media outlets, including JAMnews, staged a three-hour strike in solidarity with Mzia Amaglobeli, the detained director of Batumelebi and Netgazeti.
The strike lasted from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
“This is what Georgia would look like without critical media. Freedom for Mzia Amaglobeli and all political prisoners. We are on strike,” read a message displayed against a black background alongside a photo of Amaglobeli. This message replaced regular programming on opposition TV channels, news websites, and their social media pages during the strike, as all participating media ceased operations entirely for three hours.
What happened?
Mzia Amaglobeli was arrested on January 12 in Batumi during a protest. She is accused of committing a crime under Article 353.1 of the Criminal Code—assaulting a police officer—a charge that carries a prison sentence of four to seven years.
Today, January 14, 2025, the Batumi City Court ruled to remand Mzia Amaglobeli in custody as a preventive measure. The court justified its decision by citing the risk of her committing another offense or fleeing.
On the night of January 12, Mzia Amaglobeli was detained twice during a protest in Batumi. Initially, she was arrested for placing a sticker on the police building where the protest was held, calling for a general strike. She was released a few hours later but was soon detained again, this time accused of slapping the head of Batumi police, Irakli Dgebuadze. According to Netgazeti, this incident was preceded by a confrontation and scuffle between protesters and police, escalating into provocative actions by law enforcement officers.
Shortly after her arrest, pro-government TV channels began airing silent footage showing Mzia Amaglobeli, surrounded by police officers, raising her hand toward Dgebuadze.
Independent media later obtained and shared another video, in which Dgebuadze can be heard using offensive language toward Amaglobeli.
Editor of Batumelebi, Eteri Turadze, who was with Mzia Amaglobeli during her second arrest, described the incident as follows:
“Mzia was in a state of panic. It was a shocking situation, as the police created chaos out of nowhere and began detaining peaceful citizens. Mzia was dragged back into the police station. The idea that Mzia attacked a police officer is absurd; on the contrary, it was the police who attacked her.”
Initial reactions to the arrest
The arrest of Mzia Amaglobeli drew immediate responses from numerous local and international organizations, including independent media outlets, human rights groups, the media ombudsman, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association, and the international organization Women Press Freedom, among others.
They called on the Ministry of Internal Affairs to release Mzia Amaglobeli and all other political prisoners without delay.
For instance, U.S. Congressman Joe Wilson, a Republican and chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, posted on his X (formerly Twitter) account:
Mzia Amaghlobeli and all of the political prisoners of the Ivanishvili regime must be immediately released! There must be free and fair elections!
Mzia Amaghlobeli and all of the political prisoners of the Ivanishvili regime must be immediately released! There must be free and fair elections!
— Joe Wilson (@RepJoeWilson) January 13, 2025
In turn, Women Press Freedom highlighted that over the past six weeks, dozens of female journalists in Georgia have faced harassment and violence from the police:
Amaglobeli and her colleagues exposed how Batumi police unjustly detained [protesters]. We demand that charges be dropped and the persecution of independent journalists in Georgia be stopped
Anita Hipper, the EU’s foreign affairs spokesperson, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the European Union condemns the crackdown on peaceful protesters in Batumi and Tbilisi, including the arrests of journalists and activists:
Those unjustly detained must be released. There must be consequences for the officials involved in these illegal actions.
The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association stated that there are no grounds for detaining Mzia Amaglobeli during the investigation. According to the lawyers, such preventive measures should only be applied in extreme cases where there is a real risk of the accused fleeing, pressuring witnesses, or obstructing the investigation. In Amaglobeli’s case, they argue, no such risks exist.
Nobel laureate and Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, whose book How to Stand Up to a Dictator Amaglobeli brought to her court hearing, also responded to her colleague’s arrest. Sharing a photo of Amaglobeli from the courtroom, Ressa added a brief but emotional comment:
After 47 days of protests … would’ve been unimaginable #FreeGeorgia
After 47 days of protests … would’ve been unimaginable #FreeGeorgia https://t.co/v085CWj31p
— Maria Ressa (@mariaressa) January 14, 2025
