MEP Rasa Juknevičienė condemns sentencing of Georgian journalist Mzia Amaglobeli as political persecution

Member of the European Parliament Rasa Juknevičienė has strongly condemned the sentencing of Georgian journalist and media founder Mzia Amaglobeli to two years in prison, calling it “not just political persecution of a brilliant journalist,” but a direct attack on Georgia’s pro-European aspirations.

“Mzia has become a symbol of Georgians’ fight for a European future,” Juknevičienė wrote on X (formerly Twitter). “Ivanishvili’s regime is killing freedom and democracy faster than the Kremlin did in Russia.”

The statement follows a controversial ruling by Batumi City Court on Wednesday, where Judge Nino Sakhelashvili reclassified charges against Amaglobeli and issued a two-year custodial sentence.

Amaglobeli, founder and director of independent news outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti, was initially charged under Article 353¹ of Georgia’s Criminal Code for allegedly assaulting a police officer during a protest in Batumi in January 2024. The original charge carried a potential sentence of four to seven years in prison.

In a surprise move during the verdict hearing, the judge downgraded the charge to Article 353 – a lesser offence relating to resisting or threatening law enforcement – which allows for penalties ranging from a fine to up to five years in prison. Despite the downgrade, Amaglobeli received a two-year prison term.

Her lawyer, Maia Mtsariashvili, condemned the decision as politically motivated and legally unsubstantiated. “The system failed to prove either an attack on police or the new charge it substituted,” she said. “This was not a ruling; it was a punishment — a statement that this person is being penalised for political non-conformity.”

According to Mtsariashvili, the court could have imposed a non-custodial sentence under the revised charge, such as a fine or suspended sentence, but chose instead to imprison Amaglobeli to preserve institutional credibility.

“This was a strategic move to save face. Everyone in the country knows that what Mzia was accused of never amounted to attacking a police officer,” she added. “But instead of acquittal, they downgraded the charge to justify imprisonment.”

Amaglobeli was originally detained on administrative charges during an anti-government protest against the suspension of EU integration efforts. She was later moved to pre-trial detention under criminal charges.