Mzia Amaghlobeli Sues Kobakhidze, Mdinaradze and Subari for Defamation

On January 29, 2025, during the "Imedi LIVE" program on Imedi TV, "Georgian Dream" Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said:

“The initial incident occurred when she stuck posters on police officers - that is a fact. This offense of hers was not related in any case to journalistic activities. She was acting as a party activist. Therefore, linking this incident with the media is pure speculation… Neither she nor her United National Movement party members express any remorse.”

On January 30, Kobakhidze made another statement regarding Mzia Amaghlobeli:

“When it comes to Mzia Amaghlobeli, specific donors should take responsibility. Mzia Amaghlobeli is a person funded from abroad, her organizations are funded from abroad, and none of her donors take responsibility for the violence that this woman committed against a police officer. Each of her donors, each person who contributed money to her organizations is responsible for the partisan-political violence that Mzia Amaghlobeli committed. If anyone wants to talk about something, they should first repent and express regret for inciting violence.

On April 16, Kobakhidze stated in the "Night Courier" program on Rustavi 2 channel:

"The vast majority of detained people are victims. I couldn't say the same about Mzia Amaghlobeli, for example, who is not a victim.

She was carrying out a specific order when she insulted a police officer. Her task was to demean the police and insult their dignity."

On February 3, during a briefing, Mamuka Mdinaradze, chairman of the "Georgian Dream" parliamentary faction under Ivanishvili, echoed Kobakhidze's accusations, claiming that Mzia Amaghlobeli had "stuck a poster" on a police officer and was acting under orders.

"Let's not glorify a woman who was acting on a specific assignment. Everyone should know this. First, she stuck a 'poster' on a police officer. The goal of the assignment was to damage the reputation of state institutions, specifically the police, as much as possible. Mzia Amaghlobeli, who had been released an hour or two earlier, approached the police chief. She held him by his jacket to ensure a good hit and then struck him. She slapped the police officer demonstratively in front of cameras. She did this with the sole purpose of damaging the reputation of the police and individual officers. That's why she specifically targeted the police chief. This is something taught in training sessions. They teach trainees to damage the reputation of a high-ranking official among his subordinates and heroic police officers to dismantle the state. Mzia Amaghlobeli was the direct perpetrator of this in that specific instance.

On February 5, Sozar Subari, the deputy speaker of the Georgian Dream Parliament, disseminated defamatory information about Mzia Amaghlobeli during the "Imedi LIVE" program on Imedi TV.

"We saw that when she stuck a poster on a police officer's back, and I don't think that's normal behavior. What can I tell you…"

On May 6, journalists Eter Turadze, Ninia Kakabadze, Lika Zakashvili, Gela Mtivlishvili, Tamar Rukhadze, and Zviad Koridze sent a written request to Rustavi 2. They asked that Maia Mtsariashvili, Mzia Amaghlobeli's lawyer, be given the opportunity on the program "Night Courier," hosted by Nino Shubladze, to respond to the inaccurate, misleading, and false information spread by Irakli Kobakhidze on the same channel a few days prior. According to the Broadcasters' Code of Conduct and professional ethics norms, Rustavi 2 is obligated to correct substantially inaccurate information that misleads the public. To date, Rustavi 2 has left the journalists' statement unanswered.

Mzia Amaghlobeli was arrested on January 12 for slapping Irakli Dgebuadze, the head of the Batumi police. She has been charged under criminal law and is accused of assaulting a police officer, which carries a penalty of 4 to 7 years in prison.

An hour earlier, Grigol Beselia, the head of the Ajara police, unlawfully detained Amaghlobeli under administrative procedures because Mzia had stuck a poster regarding a planned strike on January 15 to the fence in the yard of the police department building, and not on a police officer's back, as claimed by high-ranking officials of "Georgian Dream." Amaghlobeli, who was administratively detained, was soon released, but immediately upon her release, her two relatives who were with her, the Gabaidze brothers, were arrested and charged with insubordination.

The individuals detained on the night of January 11-12, including the Gabaidze brothers, stated that they were physically assaulted by Irakli Dgebuadze, the head of Batumi police, inside the police department building. The detainees showed injuries upon transfer to the temporary detention isolator. Neither the Special Investigation Service nor the Prosecutor's Office investigated any of these cases of violence.

Irakli Dgebuadze also treated Mzia Amaghlobeli inhumanely after her second arrest. Amaghlobeli told an investigator from the Special Investigation Service that Dgebuadze spit in her face, refused to give her drinking water, and denied her access to the toilet for several hours while her lawyers were being denied entry. According to her testimony, Dgebuadze also attempted to beat Amaghlobeli but was restrained by his colleagues. The Special Investigation Service and the Prosecutor's Office also failed to investigate this case.