Mzia Amaghlobeli, the founder of Georgian media outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti, has won the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the EU’s top human rights award. Amaghlobeli won the award along with Belarusian journalist and activist Andrzej Poczobut. Both are currently imprisoned in their respective countries.
Amaghlobeli was sentenced to two years in prison in August 2025 for slapping then-Batumi Police Chief Irakli Dgebuadze during a heated argument. Her case generated significant media attention, both in Georgia and abroad.
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 Dgebuadze during an argument outside the police station. During her trial, Amaghlobeli spoke about the circumstances leading up to the incident, including degrading treatment by the police, as well as the abuse she faced following her arrest after slapping the officer. This included being spat in the face by Dgebuadze, subjected to verbal abuse, and being denied access to a toilet.
The subsequent two-year sentence was widely seen as one of the most prominent indications of the ruling Georgian Dream party’s crackdown on dissent.
‘By awarding this year’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Andrzej Poczobut from Belarus and Mzia Amaghlobeli from Georgia, we honour two journalists whose courage shines as a beacon for all who refuse to be silenced. Both have paid a heavy price for speaking truth to power, becoming symbols of the struggle for freedom and democracy. The parliament stands with them, and with all those who continue to demand freedom’, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said while announcing the award on Wednesday.
The European Parliament has called for the immediate release of both Amaghlobeli and Poczobut.
The Sakharov Prize, named after famed Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, has been awarded since 1988, and is given to ‘individuals, groups or organisations in recognition of their work to defend human rights, freedom of expression and democratic values’, the European Parliament wrote in its press release.
Mariam Nikuradze
