Today, November 18, the Kutaisi Court of Appeals upheld the Batumi City Court’s verdict sentencing Mzia Amaglobeli to two years in prison. The decision will be appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia.
On August 6, Batumi City Court judge Nino Sakhelashvili reclassified the charges. Amaglobeli was initially charged under Criminal Code of Geogria, Article 353¹ – Attacking a police officer, employee of the Special Penitentiary Service or other representative of authority or a public institution – which carries a sentence of 4 to 7 years in prison. However, the final sentencing was made under part one of the Article 353 – Resistance, threat, or violence against a protector of public order or other representative of the authorities – a lesser charge punishable by a fine, house arrest for up to two years, or imprisonment for two to six years.
She was arrested on January 12, 2025, on criminal charges and has been held in pretrial detention until sentencing. Despite the lack of legal grounds to keep her in custody, Judge Sakhelashvili extended her detention, effectively keeping her in unlawful imprisonment.
Journalist Mzia Amaglobeli, laureate of Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, addressed panel of judges – Nikoloz Margvelashvili (presiding judge), Marina Siradze, and Nana Jokhadze – at the end of appellate hearing:
Imprisonment is not desirable, nor is it easy, but it is not dangerous either. Today we have no Gulag Archipelago. I am not afraid of imprisonment, I am afraid of what I will find outside when I get out of prison.
Will I find a country that fights for freedom, democracy, and a European future, or will I find a country [conquered] by the propaganda, by economic challenges… .. Will I find a country conquered by the Russia without a tank?!
For us all in this courtroom today, dignity lies in protecting the Constitution of Georgia. Therefore, I call on everyone to fight before it is too late. Because we have an obligation to protect the Constitution. Fight to the end!”
Prosecutors Tornike Gogeshvili and Shota Chkhaidze sought to toughen the verdict and increase her sentence to between four and seven years, while the defense requested that she be found not guilty and released.
