PEN Georgia says books sent to prisoners in Georgia are being subjected to political censorship, after Rustavi Women’s Prison authorities denied delivery of Lasha Bugadze’s novel The Observer (Damkvirvebeli) to activist Nana Sander.
Sander has been held at the penitentiary facility since October 2025.
PEN Georgia said Bugadze is the first Georgian author whose novel has been blocked from entering a penitentiary institution under the current government, describing the case as an “alarming” instance of literary censorship.
The organization said the decision appears to be linked not only to the content of the novel but also to Bugadze’s political and civic stance.
“PEN Georgia condemns the censorship of fiction as an unacceptable restriction of freedom of expression in a democratic society,” the organization said.
Pen International was created in 1921 and is one of the first NGO’s in the world to defend freedom of expression. PEN Georgia has been operating since 1991.
