Mzia Amaglobeli, journalist, and founding CEO of Batumelebi and Netgazeti, has been named the recipient of this year’s Forum 2000 International Award for Courage and Responsibility.
Forum 2000 is both a foundation and an annual conference held in Prague, Czech Republic.
“This year, the award will be presented to the Georgian movement of resistance to the graduated autocratization of the country and one of it´s symbols Mzia Amaglobeli, a respected journalist and director of the independent Georgian media platforms Batumelebi and Netgazeti,” reads a press release published on the Forum 2000 website.
The award ceremony will take place in Prague on October 12–14, during the Forum 2000 conference.
“Mzia Amaglobeli, whose work focuses on human rights, corruption, and social justice, has been recognized as Georgia’s first female political prisoner and prisoner of conscience,” the press release notes, drawing attention as well to her health condition:
“She suffers from a severe degenerative eye disease, and her health has deteriorated in prison. Since February 2025, she has repeatedly requested to be transferred to a specialized ophthalmological clinic. Medical examinations confirmed that the function of her right eye has declined to just 10 percent, and she can hardly see with the left.”
“Mzia Amaglobeli has long stood against authoritarianism, censorship, and political intimidation,” said Forum 2000 Executive Director Jakub Klepal.
Forum 2000 was founded in 1996 on the initiative of Czech President Václav Havel, Japanese philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel.
The Forum 2000 International Award for Courage and Responsibility, established in 2021, is presented annually to individuals or institutions that have demonstrated civic courage and placed public responsibility, democracy, and the defense of human rights above personal interests.
Past laureates of the award include Rocío San Miguel, Venezuelan lawyer and human rights defender (2024); Vladimir Kara-Murza, Russian opposition politician, writer, and historian (2023); Zhang Zhan, Chinese citizen journalist and former lawyer (2022); and Carl Gershman, democracy and human rights advocate, former president of the National Endowment for Democracy (2021).
Mzia Amaglobeli has been unlawfully imprisoned for more than eight months.
