Freedom Index
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January 12, 2026—On the first anniversary of the arrest of prominent Georgian journalist and Sakharov Prize laureate Mzia Amaglobeli, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Press Institute (IPI), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) are urging Georgian authorities to immediately release her and credibly investigate alleged violations of her rights.
The first woman journalist to be jailed since Georgia gained independence in 1991, Amaglobeli is the founder of two outlets, Batumelebi and Netgazeti, internationally recognized as standard-setters for journalistic quality in Georgia. She was arrested on the night of January 11-12, 2025, after slapping a police chief in an altercation during a protest, and sentenced in August to two years in prison. Authorities’ decision to prosecute her on the major criminal charge of attacking a police officer has been widely denounced as politically motivated.
Amaglobeli’s jailing comes amid a sharp authoritarian turn and press freedom crackdown by a ruling Georgian Dream party faced with yearlong mass demonstrations over its decision to suspend European Union accession talks in late 2024. Georgian authorities have strangled media funding with “foreign agent” laws and other restrictions and brutally attacked journalists covering the protests. Georgia has dropped precipitously in RSF’s World Press Freedom Index, falling from 77th place in 2023 to 114th in 2025.
On trial and from her prison cell, Amaglobeli has continued to take a principled stand for democracy and a free press. In recognition of her courage, the European Parliament awarded her its Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in December 2025.
“Today it is me, tomorrow it could be anyone who dares to dream of a just, democratic European Georgia, untouched by Russian influence, unshackled by oppression,” she said shortly after her arrest.
Georgian authorities have failed to adequately investigate allegations that Amaglobeli was wrongfully detained shortly before her arrest and that the police chief spat on her after her arrest, and denied her access to a toilet or drinking water. Senior government officials, including the prime minister, have spread conspiracy theories that Amaglobeli acted on the orders of the political opposition or foreign powers, while authorities seized her outlets’ bank accounts on dubious tax claims.
Suffering from keratoconus, an eye condition affecting the cornea, her eyesight has deteriorated drastically in detention, with one eye at 10 percent vision and the other capable only of light perception.
“Mzia Amaglobeli has become a symbol of the Georgian people’s struggle against rapidly growing authoritarianism,” the press freedom organizations said. “By keeping her incarcerated, the Georgian Dream party is signaling its intention to cage the press. We call on Georgian authorities to finally right this injustice by ensuring that she does not spend a single day more behind bars.”
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