Day: June 18, 2025
Batumi City Court judge Mariana Pomaeva fined on June 18 Mzia Amaghlobeli, jailed director of Batumelebi and Netgazeti media outlets, GEL 1,000 (about USD 370) for putting a protest sticker on the outbuilding at the Batumi police department, in what her lawyers say is a second fine for the same act.
Amaglobeli, a journalist currently on trial on charges of assaulting a police officer in a high-profile criminal case, had already been fined in March on administrative charges of police disobedience. The defence has argued, however, that the police disobedience case was fabricated to justify an illegal detention in January over the sticker incident.
The case stems from the tense night of protests and arrests in Batumi on January 11-12, during which Amaghlobeli was detained twice. Police first detained the journalist after she put a protest sticker on the outbuilding at the Batumi police department, in what she said was an act of protest and solidarity with those detained that evening. Amaglobeli was released briefly afterwards, before she was returned to detention on criminal charges after slapping Batumi police chief Irakli Dgebuadze during a tense encounter.
On March 18, Batumi City Court Judge Salikh Shainidze found Mzia Amaghlobeli guilty in the first episode on charges of police disobedience under Article 173 of the Administrative Code of Georgia, and fined her GEL 2,000 (718 USD). The defence argued at the time that police fabricated an administrative offence report, provided false testimonies, and attached videos taken two hours after the relevant episode.
Separate administrative proceedings were launched later, in April, over putting a sticker on charges of defacing the appearance of a municipal property under Article 150 of the Administrative Offences Code.
Police allegedly resorted to trumping up disobedience charges because the charges under Article 150 do not permit detention. In the video from the first detention, a voice – reportedly belonging to Irakli Dgebuadze – is heard confirming that Amaghlobeli was detained under “Article 150.”
Jaba Ananidze, Batumelebi journalist and Amaglobeli’s colleague, said in his June 9 court testimony that in the “police disobedience” case that led to the first detention and fine, police used footage that features him, even if he only arrived at the scene when Amaglobeli was already freed from the initial custody.
“It was impossible for me to be there, because I was in Turkey […], crossed to Batumi that evening and arrived at the protest rally only after Mzia Amaglobeli was already freed from the administrative detention,” Ananidze told the court.
The defence also provided a forensic report arguing that the video evidence in the initial administrative case was manipulated.
The second fine comes as criminal proceedings against Amaghlobeli continue to draw widespread scrutiny. The journalist faces 4 to 7 years of imprisonment for slapping a police officer, in what is widely seen as a disproportionate and arbitrary application of criminal law aimed at silencing independent media.