Mzia Amaglobeli: 'All it takes to avoid asking the regime for pardon is self-respect'

“I don’t need advice to avoid apologising to an aggressor or asking the regime for a pardon. A sense of self-respect is enough,” political prisoner Mzia Amaglobeli writes in response to a statement by Shalva Papuashvili, speaker of the parliament of Georgia. At a briefing on 9 September, Papuashvili called prisoners of conscience “prisoners of Brussels’ shamelessness”.

The publication Batumelebi published Amaglobeli’s letter.

Mzia Amaglobeli: “The briefing in parliament was a display of shamelessness and nothing else. The regime has no morals. They do not even want to take responsibility for the unjust verdict that, in the name of Georgia, sent us to prison and branded us dangerous criminals.

They point the finger at Brussels and European diplomats. Shame on them. I don’t need advice to avoid apologising to an aggressor or asking the regime for a pardon. A sense of self-respect is enough.

If two years in prison is not humiliating enough, it will not be difficult for you to come up with something else if you want to keep me behind bars.

Power and state institutions are in your hands.

As for me, I will wait for international justice. I will wait for the day when the European Court of Human Rights examines the legality of the charges against me and the sentence imposed on me for slapping someone.

And you wait too, Mr Papuashvili. The European Court will examine the fairness and legitimacy of the repressive laws you have adopted, as well as their compliance with the Constitution and democratic processes.”

Everything you need to know about case against Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli

The hearing lasted nine hours. The lawyer called the trial historic and spoke of falsifications in the case. The verdict in Mzia Amaglobeli’s case is expected on August 4

What Shalva Papuashvili said

On 9 September, commenting on the situation of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, Shalva Papuashvili said they were “prisoners of Brussels’ shamelessness”. Papuashvili also spoke specifically about convicted journalist Mzia Amaglobeli, claiming that the court had given her the lightest possible sentence.

“Under Georgia’s Criminal Procedure Code, a lesser sentence is possible only through a plea agreement. That is what both the law and practice provide. A plea agreement was offered to her. It required only one thing: for Mzia Amaglobeli to acknowledge that what she had done was a crime and that her conduct had been wrong.

Mzia Amaglobeli is a prisoner of the shamelessness of those ambassadors who sat in court, looked her in the eye and effectively told her: ‘Do not plead guilty. Stay in prison.’ It is also the fault of those who awarded her completely unjustified prizes, including the European Parliament, thereby encouraging her not to admit that attacking a police officer is a crime,” Papuashvili said.

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Mzia Amaglobeli, founder of the well-known publications Batumelebi and Netgazeti, is the first female journalist in Georgia to become a prisoner of conscience.

Authorities arrested her in January 2025 in the city of Batumi during a protest after she slapped the head of the local police, Irakli Dgebuadze. The incident followed a confrontation between protesters and police, which the officers had provoked.

On 6 August 2025, Batumi City Court sentenced Mzia Amaglobeli to two years in prison. The court rejected her lawyer’s request to change her pre-trial measure.

Mzia Amaglobeli responds to the speaker of parliament