The journalist journalist challenges Georgia’s government from prison

“I will not worship this regime. I will not play according to his rules,” promised journalist Mzia Amaglobeli, who has been hungry in a Georgian prison for 25 days.

The founder of two news websites in Georgia, her health decreases and relatives are afraid of their lives. She was taken to hospital this week for treatment.

The 49-year-old amoglely has been in retaining experience since he hit police chief during night protests who have galvanized Georgians since the end of November.

They accuse their government of counterfeiting and turning their backs to the future of their country in the European Union.

The increasing authoritarian government in Georgia says it has committed a serious criminal crime, but its detention in the pre-trial assembly has made it a symbol of resistance.

“Today I am, tomorrow it may be anyone who dares to dream of a fair, democratic European Georgia, untouched by Russian influence, unshakable by oppression,” writes Amoglobeli in a letter from Rustavi Prison, not far from the Georgian capital Tbilisi.

The EU Human Rights Commissioner says that its pre -trial detention time to attack a police officer is unjustified.

Fourteen Foreign Embassies in Georgia demanded the immediate release of amoglely and reviews her case, describing her detention as another anxious example of intimidating journalists in Georgia.

The Mzia Amaglobeli was detained twice on January 11 in very controversial circumstances, during a protest against the Georgian Government of Dreams in the Black Sea port of Batumi.

A video, repeatedly promoted in the state media, shows that it slightly killed the Batumi police chief on the cheek.

Georgia Prime Minister Irakli Kobahidze has condemned his actions.

“Everyone has to understand that the police officer is inviolable, the police officer represents the state and the power of the state,” Kobahidze told a briefing in the press.

If found guilty of an attack, she faces four and seven years in prison.

Amglobeli is one of many hundreds of protesters who have been arrested in Georgia. The leaders of the opposition are among the detainees, and in some cases wounded by bands of pro -government thugs.

Photos of the journalist, along with the calls for her release, decorate the main protest sites in Tbilisi, as well as her hometown of Batumi.

Her family, friends and colleagues describe her as a calm, calm and hardworking person who founded the Batumi News Batumelebi website with her business partner Etar Turadze in 2001.

They continued to launch the National Website for News, Netgazeti, and today both sites are considered to be impartial and reliable sources of news in the deeply polarized media in Georgia.

The offices on the third floor of Batumelebi look at the snowy mountains Ajara. The Georgian flag hangs from the balcony along with the flags of the EU and Ukraine.

“Mzia is well known in journalistic circles, but she was not a public figure,” says Civil Rights Activist Little Chkadua, who is involved in Batumi night protests.

“She was only 25 years old, a young brave journalist when she started the Batumelebi newspaper, who struggles for the freedom of expression, and protects human rights through various government regimes in this country.”

Her niece Iveta, who grew up with Mzia, describes her as a workaholic.

At the night she was arrested, she was still in her office and the bigger part of her employees came home for the night.

My colleague and investigative journalist Irma Dimidradeze says that her boss has not participated in daily anti -government protests.

But when the Amglobeli learned that a friend was among several protesters detained for placing posters for an upcoming general strike, she rushed to the police station.

“People chanted,” Poster adhesion is not a crime “and demonstrate that it is not a crime, Mzia did the same,” says Dimitraze.

Weeks earlier, as the protests were held, the Georgian Government of Dreams banned the face masks and increased the fines to carry out “inscriptions or drawings” on the construction of facades.

The Amglobel was shot on a video, attaching a poster to the wall of police station before being taken out by several officers.

“Later in the police report, we learned that she did not obey the police legal order, that she swears and offended them,” said Irma Dimitraze, adding that all this is wrong.

She was charged with an administrative crime and released. Her niece Iveta was with other relatives waiting for her: “When Mzia came out, I even joked with her, saying,” Look, if you want to rest, have a day off, you didn’t need to do it. ” “

But soon the situation escalated and more arrests followed.

Amoglobeli was seen colliding with Batumi police chief Irakli Dgeubadze. As he walked away, she grabbed him by his sleeve and slapped him.

Shots made minutes later show that it was taken by police.

Outside the camera, she is ridiculed in a highly threatening and violent language that witnesses say is the voice of the police chief.

Amglobeli’s lawyers say he later spat in her face and refused to give her water or access to toilets. She was also denied access to her lawyers for several hours.

Batumi prosecutors say her slap is motivated by “revenge”. A judge rejected the guarantee of her legal team and left her in the pre -trial detention.

At the port, the amallole looked challenging, dressed in a blue hood, holding a copy of the book by the Nobel Prize winner Maria Res, “How to face a dictator: the struggle for our future.”

Twenty days after his hungry strike on January 31, the Special Georgia penitentiary service called on the Amglobels to stop “in the best interest in her health.”

The leading Georgian figure of dreams in parliament Mamuk Mdinaradze said it was wrong to present it as “a man who has committed great heroism … She has to start eating and everything will end.”

The mayor of Tbilisi Kaladze, another leading light in the party, suggested that the amanobels could come out and admit “I made a mistake and apologize” because Batumi was a worthy police officer.

However, several groups said the authorities were wrong, detaining it in the first place. The Association of Georgian young lawyers says its prosecutor’s office is “politically motivated”.

Since the beginning of EU protests, hundreds of protesters have been detained, beaten and treated inhumans, according to Transparency International Georgia.

More than 90 journalists have been forcibly attacked and their equipment has been damaged.

No police officers are charged.

The Independent Georgia Special Investigation Service, which investigates the allegations against officials, says an investigation into a possible abuse of power in the case of amoglely by “certain employees of the Ministry of Interior of Georgia”.

It says that 10 police officers, including Batumi police chief, were questioned as witnesses. No one is stopped by duty.

It is then due in court on March 4.