Today, on 28 April 2025, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association lodged an application to the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of Mzia Amaglobeli, the founder of "Batumelebi" and "Netgazeti", who is in unlawful detention.

The application submitted to the European Court of Human Rights substantiates that the fundamental rights of the European Convention on Human Rights, such as - the right to liberty and security (Article 5 of the Convention), the right to a fair trial (Article 6 of the Convention), the right to respect for private and family life (Article 8 of the Convention), freedom of expression (Article 10 of the Convention), Article 13 of the Convention in conjunction with Articles 8 and 10 (right to an effective remedy), and the limitation on use of restrictions on rights (Article 18 of the Convention), have been violated against Mzia Amaglobeli.

In particular:

Right to liberty and security (Article 5 of the Convention):

The use of the most severe measure of restraint - detention - against Mzia Amaglobeli was arbitrary and unlawful. The prosecution did not present any arguments that would confirm the necessity of detention, the prosecutor's motion, as well as the court's ruling on the use of the measure of restraint, is based on abstract risks and reasoning, instead of assessing the individual circumstances of the case. Neither at the hearing of the defendant's initial appearance, nor during the consideration of the motion for review of the measure of restraint, nor at the pre-trial hearing, did the judge assess why the use of a less severe measure of restraint would not have been able to ensure the achievement of the goals of the criminal proceedings

As is known, on 14 January 2025, the Batumi City Court Judge Nino Sakhelashvili used detention on Mzia Amaglobeli. The threats indicated in the ruling of 14 January 2025 were artificial and unfounded, nevertheless, the Court of Appeals Judge Malkhaz Okropirishvili declared inadmissible and did not review the appeal of the defence. On 13 February 2025, Mzia Amaglobeli's lawyers applied to the Batumi City Court with a request to annul the detention applied to Mzia Amaglobeli. On 14 February 2025, the Batumi City Court Judge Levan Kolbaia declared the motion inadmissible. The aforementioned ruling of the Batumi City Court was appealed to the Kutaisi Court of Appeal as unlawful and unfounded. By the 19 February ruling of Judge Vera Dolidze of the Investigative Panel of the Kutaisi Court of Appeal, the complaint of Mzia Amaglobeli's defending lawyers was also declared inadmissible. On 4 March 2025, a pre-trial hearing was held in the Batumi City Court on the criminal case of Mzia Amaglobeli. At the hearing, Judge Viktor Metreveli, among the other issues, discussed the issue of the detention imposed as a measure of restraint, however, he still left Mzia Amaglobeli in the unlawful detention.

Right to a fair trial (Article 6 of the Convention):

In the case of Mzia Amaglobeli, the presumption of innocence of the indictee has been violated on several occasions, among them, by the court. In the ruling on the use of a measure of restraint, the judge used the fact of Mzia Amaglobeli's administrative arrest to justify the risk of the indictee committing a crime, while the legality of the administrative arrest and the issue of committing an administrative offence are still under consideration and a final decision has not yet been made.

Right to respect for private and family life (Article 8 of the Convention)
Freedom of expression (Article 10 of the Convention)
Article 13 of the Convention in conjunction with Articles 8 and 10 (right to an effective remedy)

The Mzia Amaglobeli case reveals a number of significant procedural violations, which indicate a possible crime on the part of the investigative agencies, among them, the report of the Detective Vladimer Chitaia, on the basis of which the information was requested from Mzia Amaglobeli's phone. The prosecutor's office, as well as the court, did not even consider the fact that Mzia Amaglobeli's phone contained information about the journalistic sources, anonymity of which should be guaranteed due to the specific nature of the journalistic activity. The same action essentially violated the applicant's right to personal communication and private life. Conducting such an investigative action solely on the basis of a report undermines the rights guaranteed by Articles 8 and 10 of the Convention, such a precedent also contradicts the practice of the Constitutional Court of Georgia and is clearly unlawful. It is noteworthy that in Georgia there is no effective means of protecting rights that would make it possible to protect oneself from such clearly unlawful decisions.

Limitation on use of restrictions on rights (Article 18 of the Convention):

The scale of the unlawfulness in the case of Mzia Amaglobeli goes beyond a mere violation of the substantive articles of the Convention and indicates an intention prohibited by Article 18 of the Convention. The purpose of Mzia Amaglobeli’s detention is to punish her as an example and to retaliate for her journalistic activities and active civic position, and not to achieve the goals of the Criminal Procedure Code. It is also worth noting that the “Georgian Dream” and its associated individuals are conducting a deliberate campaign against Mzia Amaglobeli in order to create a negative attitude towards Mzia Amaglobeli in the public. For example, Irakli Kobakhidze has repeatedly spoken about the criminal case of Mzia Amaglobeli, referred to her as a criminal and disseminated propaganda messages against her.

It should be noted that the application sent to the European Court of Human Rights contains only a part of the violations committed against Mzia Amaglobeli. As is known to the public, on 11 January 2025, Mzia Amaglobeli’s criminal arrest was preceded by an administrative arrest, which followed from sticking a protest sticker. Unlawfully and arbitrarily arrested Mzia Amaglobeli was later released based on a written commitment, however, she was soon arrested under criminal law on charges of a crime under article 3531 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which means attacking a police officer in connection with their official activities and provides for a sentence of four to seven years of imprisonment. As of today, the merits of Mzia Amaglobeli's case are being considered by Judge Nino Sakhelashvili, who does not have a criminal law specialization.

After being arrested under criminal law, Mzia Amaglobeli was ill-treated by the Batumi Police Chief Irakli Dgebuadze in the yard and the building of the police station. Before being taken into the police station, in the yard, Irakli Dgebuadze repeatedly verbally assaulted her and threatened that he would commence a criminal investigation against her. Dgebuadze attempted to physically assault her several times in the station. Other police officers were able to restrain Irakli Dgebuadze and remove him from the room. During one of his entrances in the room, he spat in Mzia Amaglobeli's face. Also, in accordance with his orders, Mzia Amaglobeli was not given the opportunity to drink water and meet other basic needs for a certain period of time. Mzia Amaglobeli periodically requested to contact her lawyers, however, her request was ignored. At the same time, the lawyers were trying unsuccessfully for about 3 hours to enter the police station and meet with Mzia Amaglobeli. Thus, these facts confirm that Mzia Amaglobeli's detention and criminal prosecution are unlawful and constitute political repression.

Considering that the review of the case on part of the violations has not yet been completed, the application sent today does not cover the aforementioned violations and a dispute over them in the Strasbourg Court, depending on the results, will be possible after the conclusion of the consideration of the case at the national level.