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Court Rejects Mzia Amaghlobeli’s Appeal, Keeps Journalist in Jail

On January 21, the Kutaisi Court of Appeals rejected Mzia Amaghlobeli‘s appeal and kept the journalist in pre-trial detention. Amaghlobeli’s lawyers had appealed an earlier decision by the Batumi City Court to remand her in custody.

Mzia Amaghlobeli is the founder and director of the regional publication Batumelebi and its nationwide online sister publication Netgazeti. She faces a prison sentence for what the authorities classify as assaulting a police officer. She was arrested after she slapped the head of the Batumi police department, Irakli Dgebuadze, following alleged abuse and insulting behavior by him. Watchdog groups say her case illustrates the state’s political repression of independent journalists.

Amaghlobeli’s lawyers have not yet received the reasons for the Kutaisi court’s decision. “We will consider how to continue the legal fight,” Paata Diasamidze, one of Amaghlobeli’s lawyers, told Batumelebi.

On January 14, Batumi City Court Judge Nino Sakhelashvili remanded Mzia Amaghlobeli in custody. On January 16, Georgian Public Defender Levan Ioseliani submitted an amicus curiae brief to the Kutaisi Court of Appeal, arguing that her detention was “unjustified.”

Mzia Amaghlobeli was arrested on January 12. Yesterday, the head of the Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) reported that Amaghlobeli has been on hunger strike since her arrest.

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This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)

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