Imprisoned journalists Mzia Amaghlobeli and Ulvi Hasanli shortlisted for Václav Havel Prize
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize’s selection panel has shortlisted two imprisoned journalists from the South Caucasus as finalists for the prize: Georgia’s Mzia Amaghlobeli and Azerbaijan’s Ulvi Hasanli.
The two journalists were listed as finalists alongside Ukrainian journalist Maksym Butkevych in a press release by the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) on Tuesday.
The panel wrote that Amaghlobeli’s ‘courageous actions have helped draw attention to media repression and political abuse, aiming to ensure a democratic future for Georgia’, despite her ‘politically motivated imprisonment and harsh mistreatment’ whilst in detention.
‘Her arrest and subsequent sentencing in 2025 made her a symbol of press freedom and resilience in the face of government repression, highlighting the crucial role journalists play in defending human rights’, the release continued.
Amaghlobeli, the founder of prominent independent news outlets Netgazeti and Batumelebi, was sentenced in early August to two years in prison for slapping Batumi Police Chief Irakli Dgebuadze during a heated argument.
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She was initially charged with ‘assaulting a police officer’, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. However, in a last minute change while announcing the verdict, Batumi City Court Nino Sakhelashvili downgraded the charge to ‘resisting, threatening, or using violence against a protector of public order’.
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 same street.
Shortly after being released, she was again arrested after slapping Batumi Police Chief Irakli Dgebuadze during a heated exchange outside the police station.
In turn, Hasanli, the director of independent Azerbaijani news outlet Abzas Media, was sentenced to nine years in prison in late June on charges of smuggling foreign currency as a group and money laundering.
He was sentenced alongside five members of his team — editor-in-chief Sevinj Abbasova (Vagifgizi), investigative journalist Hafiz Babali, journalists Nargiz Absalamova and Elnara Gasimova, and coordinator Mahammad Kekalov — in addition to one RFE/RL journalist who was detained as part of the crackdown on Abzas Media, Farid Mehralizada.
Hasanli and his team were detained in late 2023 as the authorities raided their offices in Baku. The raid signalled the beginning of a renewed crackdown on media in Azerbaijan, with the authorities moving to imprison or expel almost all other independent journalists left in the country.
The prize’s panel noted that Hasanli faced ‘relentless government persecution since 2011, including arbitrary detention, torture, and politically motivated charges.
‘In June 2025, Hasanli was sentenced to nine years in prison and is currently detained under harsh conditions in a remote prison, where he has endured hunger strikes and solitary confinement while continuing to embody resilience and commitment to press freedom.’
The winner of the prize will be announced at the opening of PACE’s Autumn plenary session in Strasbourg on 29 September.
Aytan Farhadova
