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RUSTAVI, Georgia, July 13, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - The world's top press freedom groups on Sunday threw their support behind a jailed Georgian journalist, warning that her prosecution signalled deepening repression as Tbilisi cracks down on dissenting voices.

Mzia Amaghlobeli, head of the independent Batumelebi and Netgazeti news outlets, has been in pre-trial detention since her arrest on January 12 for slapping a police officer during a protest in the Black Sea city of Batumi.

She faces up to seven years in prison if convicted.

She says her detention is politically motivated and rights groups have denounced it as disproportionate. Her lawyers have warned that she is rapidly losing her sight.

On Sunday, representatives of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), the International Press Institute (IPI) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) held a solidarity action outside the prison in Georgia's eastern city of Rustavi where Amaghlobeli is being held.

"Mzia Amaghlobeli's continued detention is based on absurd charges and reflects a clear intention to silence a journalist who is critical of the ruling party, in a climate of growing authoritarianism in Georgia," RSF's Jeanne Cavelier said in a statement.

Shortly after her arrest, Amaghlobeli went on a 38-day hunger strike to protest her detention.

Her lawyers say the Batumi police chief she is accused of slapping, Irakli Dgebuadze, had verbally abused her, attempted to physically assault her at the police station, and spat in her face.

They also say she has been mistreated in custody. 

Amaghlobeli's prosecution comes amid a wave of arrests targeting nearly all of opposition leaders, as well as several activists, and journalists critical of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

The former Soviet republic and EU candidate nation has been gripped by political unrest since the disputed parliamentary vote last October, when Georgian Dream declared victory, sparking mass protests over alleged electoral fraud. 

Demonstrators accuse the ruling party, which shelved EU membership talks, of veering toward authoritarian rule and steering the country closer to Moscow -- accusations the government rejects.

On Friday, foreign ministers of 17 European countries, including France, Germany and the UK, as well as EU foreign policy chief issued a joint statement condemning the "dismantling of democracy in Georgia and rapid transformation towards an authoritarian system."