Mzia Amaghlobeli, the imprisoned director of Batumelebi and Netgazeti, has testified in Batumi City Court, recounting her detention in January, and how Batumi Police Chief Irakli Dgebuadze allegedly spat in her face and ordered his subordinates not to allow her to use the restroom.
Amaghlobeli was first detained at night on 11 January after putting a sticker calling for a nationwide strike on a fence outside a police station in Batumi. She had done so in protest against the detention of her colleague, Tsiala Katamidze, for putting up the same sticker on the street.
Shortly after being released, she was again arrested after slapping Dgebuadze during a heated exchange outside the police station. If found guilty, she could face seven years in prison for ‘assaulting a police officer’.
Amaghlobeli did not rule out the possibility of spending several years in prison, saying that ‘this is what the [Georgian Dream] regime wants’.
She gave a detailed account of what led up to her slapping Dgebuadze during a hearing on Monday.
According to her testimony, after being released from administrative detention, she was preparing to leave when she suddenly found herself surrounded by masked police officers. They detained Giorgi Gabaidze, the nephew of Batumelebi editor-in-chief and Amaghlobeli’s friend, Eter Turadze.
‘This was a show of force. The police created a stampede […] I couldn’t hold myself back, I was trying to grab onto someone. I felt a strong push and a blow to my back… I fell. A wave of officers trampled over me — in the literal sense of the word. I lost consciousness… I don’t remember who helped me up’, she said as quoted by Batumelebi.
The media manager noted that the aggression was followed by humiliating verbal treatment.
‘It was an irresponsible, dismissive, and humiliating kind of talk — along the lines of “I’ll arrest whoever I want, however I want”. I felt anger and helplessness’.
According to a Batumelebi correspondent who attended the hearing, when the discussion turned to the moment she slapped Dgebuadze, Amaghlobeli looked at the people seated in the courtroom and said:
‘Have you ever had a moment when you were surprised by your own actions? I didn’t fully grasp it at the time… Don’t think I’ve fallen into regret — that’s not the case. What happened was inevitable — I couldn’t have acted any other way. It was an impulsive reaction to arrogant, insulting, humiliating, and domineering communication’.
Amaghlobeli also recounted how Dgebuadze treated her after the slap — following her second arrest, this time under criminal charges.
‘He kept coming toward me… I don’t want to describe the words he used to insult me here — if needed, I’ll send a letter to the judge from prison and describe it there’, she added.
According to her, at one point Dgebuadze came close, and when Amaghlobeli looked up at him, the police chief spat in her face. After that, he ordered his officers not to provide her with even the most basic amenities.
‘I was in such bad shape that all I could do was get up and say, “Bring me some water and take me to the bathroom”. A female officer got up to bring water… Then I heard Irakli Dgebuadze say: “No, no water, no toilet — let her wet herself” ’.
She said that everyone, especially men, at the station intended to treat her inhumanely, with one of them even insisting that her hands be cuffed behind her back instead of her front.
As with previous hearings, Monday’s court session was attended by foreign diplomats and watchdog organisations. According to RFE/RL, attendees included representatives from the European Union, Denmark, France, Sweden, and Estonia, as well as representatives from Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), and the International Press Institute (IPI).
Amaghlobeli’s case has been widely condemned by critics both in Georgia and abroad as disproportionate and politically motivated, linked to her work as a media personality.
Critics pointed to the video of Amaghlobeli’s arrest following the slapping incident as early evidence that her punishment was premeditated — the footage showed Dgebuadze insulting and threatening her.
‘I fucking swear, I’ll arrest her under the criminal [code] […] I’ll fuck her mother’s pussy’, Dgebuadze could be heard saying.
After the footage was shown during another hearing in May, Dgebuadze stated that the voice in the recording ‘sounds like’ his. He then added that he might have used obscene language, but only for the purpose of ‘describing the fact’. He did not confirm the actions described by Amaghlobeli.
Following the media manager’s arrest, Georgian Dream officials — including Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze — promoted the theory that Amaghlobeli was acting on prior instructions as part of a plan to discredit the Georgian police.
In May, Amaghlobeli’s lawyers announced they would sue the prime minister for defamation over those claims. They also requested that the Batumi court summon both Kobakhidze and Georgian Dream MP Nino Tsilosani — who had alleged that Amaghlobeli acted in exchange for money.
The judge rejected both motions.
Mariam Nikuradze
