Swiss photojournalist Gregor Sommer has been denied entry to Georgia after refusing to pay a ₾10,000 ($3,700) fine for allegedly ‘blocking the road’ during protests. Another journalist from Germany was held for hours at the border before paying a ₾5,000 ($1,900) fine — also for allegedly blocking a road.
Sommer was denied entry after flying into Tbilisi on Sunday.
He told OC Media on Wednesday that upon arriving, he was made to wait for about five minutes as the border guard conducted a check on him, following which a police officer escorted him away from the booth and told him that he had to pay two separate ₾5,000 fines for allegedly blocking the road during a protest.
He was told that he had to leave Georgia after refusing to pay the fines.
‘Then they brought me to a room with people from Uzbekistan, Iran, and we were sitting there for eight hours. These people were there for three or four days with one meal a day [and were in] worse conditions’, Sommer told OC Media.
‘I had to book my flight back, after that they took my phone, I tried to get my phone back but they didn’t, and I tried to ask for a phone call and they insisted no it’s not possible, and they took my phone’, Sommer said, adding that he was denied requests for any additional information about the fines or for a lawyer to be present to assist him.
Sommer has previously visited Georgia ‘at least six or seven times’ since the disputed October 2024 elections. He has published photos of protests sparked by the government’s decision to suspend Georgia’s EU membership bid.
Another journalist from Germany told OC Media on condition of anonymity that he was temporarily held at the border for six hours, and was only let through after agreeing to pay a ₾5,000 fine — also for blocking the road.
Both journalists were held up at the border ahead of the October 2024 elections scheduled for 4 October.
The authorities in Georgia have over 2025 been denying entry to Western journalists critical of the governments in Tbilisi and Moscow. Several of those journalists have also reported being fined for allegedly blocking the road — including French photojournalist Hicham El Bouhmidi in early August.
The Georgian Dream government has been using the accusation against local journalists covering protests on the ground.
OC Media’s Mariam Nikuradze was fined a total of four times for ‘blocking’ a road while covering protests, despite video evidence used to press the charges against her showing her carrying a camera and wearing her press identification.
Other high-profile figures critical of Georgia have also been denied entry over the past months — among them were former US diplomat and civic sector consultant Maggie Osdoby Katz, Romanian stand up comedian Victor Patrascan, prominent French photographer Marylise Vigneau, and Lithuanian women’s rights advocate Regina Jegorova-Askerova. Jegorova-Askerova reportedly had a family in Georgia, including two children, and also held permanent residency.
On 21 May, Simon Vandenbroucke, an Enlargement Programme Officer working for the EU Delegation to Georgia, was denied entry to Georgia without explanation. After the delegation addressed the Georgian Foreign Ministry regarding the matter, however, the Georgian authorities ‘presented oral apologies for the regrettable incident and confirmed that the staff member is welcome to come back to his place of posting’.
Later the same month, the French and Polish Embassies in Georgia issued travel advisories, warning their citizens they could be denied entry into Georgia or face heavy fines for participating in or sharing information on social media related to the ongoing anti-government protests.
Mariam Nikuradze
