Source: Safety of Journalists Platform-Council of Europe, Partners: IPI ; CPJ ; EFJ/IFJ ; JFJ
The Council of Europe’s Safety of Journalists Platform has issued an alert regarding the arrest of Mzia Amaglobeli, founder of Georgian media outlets Netgazeti and Batumelebi, who faces criminal charges.
This platform, a collaboration between the Council of Europe and leading press freedom organizations, monitors and responds to threats against journalists in real-time. It focuses on serious risks to media freedom and journalist safety. Alerts submitted by partner organizations are verified and published to raise awareness and encourage swift action from national authorities. By publicizing these cases, the platform aims to hold governments accountable for their obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights to protect freedom of expression.
In 2025, the platform issued four active alerts regarding journalist safety within Council of Europe member states: one in Ukraine and three in Georgia. On January 21, the platform released its alert concerning Mzia Amaglobeli, following earlier alerts about an attack on veteran journalist Zviad Koridze and the arrest of cameraman Guram Murvanidze, both of whom are also associated with media outlets in Georgia.
All three cases in Georgia have been classified as Level 1 alerts, indicating the most severe violations of media freedom, highlighting the urgent need for authorities to address these issues and safeguard freedom of expression.
Safety Alert
“On 12 January 2024, Mzia Amaglobeli, founder and director of the online outlet Batumelebi, was detained on charges of ‘resisting, threatening or using violence against a protector of public order or other representative of the authorities’ (Article 353 of the Georgian Criminal Code). If charged and found guilty, she faces up to 7 years in prison. According to her lawyer, the circumstances of her arrest remain unclear. Amaglobeli was first arrested in Batumi the day before while putting up posters near the main police station calling for a national strike. Batumelebi reported that a representative of the Public Defender (Ombudsman) was allowed to visit the journalist, but that her lawyer was not allowed to see her. She was released within two hours. Amaglobeli reportedly said that, when she was released, she found herself in a stampede in front of the police station and experienced pain in her hand due to being tightly restrained. In an instinctive gesture, she shook her hand forcefully, accidentally hitting a man in front of her, who was the chief of the Batumi police, Irakli Dgebuadze. The police immediately arrested her again. Amaglobeli reportedly said that Dgebuadze subjected her to mistreatment during the process and that her lawyer was denied access to the facility until 3 a.m. on 12 January. The Media Advocacy Coalition condemned Amaglobeli’s detention and called for her immediate release.
FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS EXPECTED Release the journalist. Drop the charges.
