Georgia’s Supreme Court has declined to consider the appeal of Mzia Amaglobeli, co-founder and director of the independent media outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti.
Under Georgia’s legal system, a Supreme Court decision to declare an appeal inadmissible means the court will not review the merits or substance of the case, and the appellate court’s decision remains final.
As a result, the legal dispute is effectively concluded. The rulings by the lower courts against Mzia Amaglobeli now carry full legal force and can no longer be appealed within Georgia.
The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court—judges Levan Tevzadze, Merab Gabinashvili, and Mamuka Vasadze—made the decision without holding an oral hearing, meaning no session took place with the parties present.
Amaglobeli’s lawyers petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn the Kutaisi Court of Appeals’ verdict, issue an acquittal, and review the legality of several procedural rulings in the case.
Simultaneously, prosecutors requested the Supreme Court to amend the appellate court’s ruling and strengthen the charges against Amaglobeli. The prosecution specifically sought her conviction under Article 353¹ (1) of the Criminal Code and a harsher sentence.
Mzia Amaglobeli, the co-founder and director of Batumelebi and Netgazeti, has been held in unlawful detention for more than a year. She was arrested on the night of January 11–12, 2025—initially on administrative charges for placing a sticker, followed by criminal charges for slapping Batumi police chief Irakli Dgebuadze during a protest.
For the slap, prosecutors charged Amaglobeli with “attacking a police officer,” an offense punishable by four to seven years in prison under the Criminal Code, with no lighter penalty available.
On August 6, 2025, Batumi City Court Judge Nino Sakhelashvili reclassified the charge to the lesser offense of resisting a police officer under Article 353 of the Criminal Code. Although this article allows for non-custodial penalties, Amaglobeli received a two-year prison sentence.
Her trial at Batumi City Court occurred amid disinformation campaigns by the ruling Georgian Dream party and the presentation of police officers as false witnesses.
During her arrest, Amaglobeli was subjected to degrading and inhuman treatment; however, the Prosecutor’s Office declined to investigate. In protest, she undertook a 38-day hunger strike following her detention, during which her eyesight deteriorated significantly
On November 18, 2025, the Kutaisi Court of Appeals upheld the Batumi City Court’s verdict, sentencing Amaglobeli to two years in prison. The appellate panel—judges Nikoloz Margvelashvili (rapporteur), Marina Siradze, and Nana Jokhadze—heard arguments from Amaglobeli’s lawyers seeking her acquittal and release, while the prosecution called for a harsher sentence of four to seven years.
Mzia Amaglobeli’s case is currently under review at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. In January 2026, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), representing Mzia Amaglobeli before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), announced that the Court had registered a second application on her behalf concerning her administrative detention and related proceedings. Amaglobeli’s legal team has submitted two applications to the ECHR. The first has already passed the communication stage, with both the authorities and Amaglobeli’s representatives submitting their written observations.
The Clooney Foundation for Justice, which monitored Mzia Amaglobeli’s trial, stated in its January 16 TrialWatch Fairness Report that her trial and conviction violated her right to a fair trial and constituted an abuse of process. The report, grading the proceedings ‘D’, cited multiple breaches of international law that undermined the fairness of the case. Key violations included denying Amaglobeli access to a lawyer after her arrest, confining her in a glass cabin that hindered communication with her defense, and excluding key defense witnesses and video evidence. The situation was exacerbated by the judge’s last-minute reclassification of charges and by prejudicial statements from senior officials, which breached Amaglobeli’s right to the presumption of innocence.
“The criminal proceedings against Mzia Amaglobeli revealed serious violations of international human rights standards, undermining the fairness of her detention, trial, and conviction for an offense she had not even been charged with,” said Sir Nicolas Bratza, former President of the European Court of Human Rights and TrialWatch expert.
Mzia Amaglobeli is an award-winning journalist and laureate of numerous international honors, including the Press Freedom Hero Award, Courage and Responsibility Award, Free Media Award, and the 2025 Sakharov Prize. On December 16, 2025, while still imprisoned, she received the European Union’s highest human rights honor alongside Belarusian journalist Andjey Pochobut, who is also incarcerated. Amaglobeli is recognized as the first female journalist political prisoner in Georgia since the Soviet era, and her case has been widely regarded as politically motivated.
