Mzia Amaglobeli, founder and director of Netgazeti and Batumelebi, has been named among the finalists for the 2025 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize.
Alongside Amaglobeli, the list includes Ukrainian journalist Maksym Butkevych and Azerbaijani journalist Ulvi Hasanli.
The aim of the prize is to recognize outstanding civil society action in the defense of human rights in Europe and beyond.
“Mzia Amaglobeli has been a pioneering Georgian journalist since 2000 and is the co-founder of the independent media outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti. Despite politically motivated imprisonment and harsh treatment, which followed her exposure of police violence during protests, her courageous actions helped draw attention to repression against the media and political violence, with the goal of safeguarding Georgia’s democratic future.
“Her arrest and subsequent sentencing in 2025 turned her into a symbol of resilience in the face of state repression and a defender of press freedom, underscoring the vital role journalists play in protecting human rights,” the prize committee’s announcement reads.
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize was established in 2013 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation.
Since its creation, the prize has been awarded to María Corina Machado (Venezuela), Osman Kavala (Turkey), Vladimir Kara-Murza (Russia), Maria Kalesnikava (Belarus), Loujain al-Hathloul (Saudi Arabia), jointly to Ilham Tohti (China) and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (Balkans), Oyub Titiev (Russia), Murat Arslan (Turkey), Nadia Murad (Iraq), Lyudmila Alexeyeva (Russia), Anar Mammadli (Azerbaijan), and Ales Bialiatski (Belarus).
The award ceremony is traditionally held in Strasbourg during the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly, usually at the end of September or the beginning of October, with the Assembly’s President announcing the laureate.
On August 6, Judge Nino Sakhelashvili sentenced Netgazeti and Batumelebi founder Mzia Amaglobeli to two years in prison.
The charge of assaulting a police officer was reclassified under Article 353, Part 1 of the Criminal Code: resisting a police officer to obstruct public order, suspend or alter their duties, or compelling them to commit an obviously unlawful act, carried out with violence or threat of violence—punishable by a fine, house arrest of up to two years, or imprisonment from two to six years.
Amaglobeli delivered her closing remarks to the court on August 4, rejecting the prosecution’s offer of a plea bargain as unacceptable and offensive.
She was arrested on January 12, 2025, under criminal procedure and has been held in pre-trial detention for more than 200 days. Despite the lack of legal grounds for her continued detention, Judge Sakhelashvili kept her in custody.
During her imprisonment, Amaglobeli’s eyesight has sharply deteriorated.
Photo: Mzia Amaglobeli in court. Source: Batumelebi/Netgazeti
