ProtectDefenders.eu has been informed about the continued arbitrary detention of Ms Mzia Amaghlobeli, a prominent Georgian journalist and founder and director of independent Georgian news outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti. Her arrest happened on 11 January 2025, in the context of the protests demanding a re-run of the disputed October 2024 elections.
Shortly after being released Ms Amaghlobeli was re-arrested and detained due to an altercation that occurred between Ms Amaghlobeli and the Batumi police chief Irakli Dgebuadze. Following a highly disproportionate court ruling, Ms Amaghlobeli was put in pre-trial detention until March 2025. Between 12 January 2025 and 18 February 2025, Ms Amaghlobeli was on a hunger strike to protest her arbitrary detention, and was prevented from receiving adequate medical care.
ProtectDefenders.eu has also received information about the highly concerning state of press freedom in the country. Extreme polarisation of the media, increasingly repressive legislation, and verbal and physical violence prevent journalists from working in peace. This situation is worsened by the adoption of the Transparency of Foreign Influence Law, copied from Russian legislation, which stigmatises all media outlets and NGOs that receive at least 20 percent of their funding from abroad by designating them as foreign agents. The law also imposes administrative burdens on these groups and can require them to disclose a wide range of personal data and the identity of journalists’ sources.
Consortium partner RSF has recently published the co-written report report “Press Freedom and the Safety of Journalists in Peril, Rising Polarisation and a Climate of Fear”, detailing the situation of press freedom in the country.
Finally, On 17 March 2025, the Office of Georgia’s Prosecutor General issued a statement, confirming that human rights organisations ‘Human Rights House Tbilisi’ and ‘Shame Movement’ along with three other civil society organisations – Nanuka’s Fund, Prosperity Georgia and Fund for Each Other 24/7 – have had their bank accounts frozen. The Prosecutor’s office accused the organisations of financially supporting and socially endorsing the participants of violent protests against the re-election of the Georgian Dream Party to the Georgian Parliament in October 2024. The human rights organisations reported that they did not receive any preliminary alert or notification from the authorities about the order to freeze their accounts, nor were they informed that their organisations were a part of a criminal investigation.
