The Kutaisi Court of Appeal in western Georgia has overturned a ruling by Batumi City Court, reinstating several pieces of evidence in the case of Mzia Amaglobeli, an arrested media manager.
The decision allows video recordings, written documents, and a witness interrogation protocol – previously excluded – to be considered in the trial.
The contested video evidence, which had been publicly circulated online, captures events before, during, and after Amaglobeli’s arrest. In a pre-trial hearing on March 4, prosecutors argued the material was irrelevant to the case and requested its exclusion.
Judge Viktor Metreveli granted the request, but with a different rationale – saying that obtaining data from a computer device, even if publicly accessible, required judicial authorization. As the defence had not sought a judge’s ruling before submitting the videos, Metreveli deemed the material inadmissible.
Amaglobeli’s lawyer, Maia Mtsariashvili, criticized this reasoning, arguing that the judge had formulated an incorrect legal justification for the exclusion. Following an appeal, Judge Malkhaz Okropirashvili at the Kutaisi Court of Appeal reversed the decision, allowing the videos to be reintroduced as evidence.
The case has also sparked wider controversy. Judge Okropirashvili had previously dismissed a lawsuit by Amaglobeli’s lawyers seeking to change her detention conditions. In response, Amaglobeli’s supporters staged a symbolic protest outside the judge’s residence. Ten days later, the Ministry of Internal Affairs charged the demonstrators with violating assembly regulations. On February 10, Kutaisi City Court Judge Tsitsino Mosidze found all nine protesters guilty, including musician Nino Katamadze, journalist Gela Mtivlishvili, and teacher Vladimer Apkhazava, issuing each a fine of 5,000 GEL.
Amaglobeli was arrested for slapping a police official during protests in Batumi against the Georgian Dream Government’s decision late last year to halt EU integration until 2028. She is facing up to seven years in prison. Domestic and international actors call the case politically grounded.
