Georgia: Arbitrary detention of journalists Keta Tsitskishvili and Vakho Sanaia

GEO 007 / 1125 / OBS 069
Arbitrary detention
Georgia
4 November 2025

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Georgia.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory has been informed about the arbitrary detention of Ms Keta Tsitskishvili and Mr Vakho Sanaia, two journalists working for Formula News, an independent television channel and media platform that pursues an editorial policy critical of the ruling Georgian Dream party and its activities.

On the evening of 18 October 2025, Mr Vakho Sanaia, the anchor of Formula News’ prime-time news program and the weekly political analysis show “Formula of the Week”, was arbitrarily arrested while attending a protest on Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi. On 19 October 2025, he was sentenced to six days of administrative detention for “blocking a road” (Article 135 of the Administrative Offences Code)by the Tbilisi City Court. The judgement was delivered by Judge Manuchar Tsatsua.

Subsequently, on 20 October 2025, Ms Tsitskishvili was detained for participating in the same protest on Rustaveli Avenue. Before the protest, Ms Tsitskishvili had written on her Facebook page that police officers had visited her home as an intimidation strategy.

On 21 October 2025, the Tbilisi City Court, under Judge Koba Chagunava, also found Ms. Keta Tsitskishvili guilty of “blocking a road” (Article 135 of the Administrative Offences Code) and sentenced her to five days of administrative detention.

Both Ms Tsitskishvili and Mr Sanaia were released on 25 October 2025 after fully serving their administrative sentences. These arrests and convictions came after the Georgian parliament, controlled by the ruling Georgian Dream party, fast-tracked a legislative package on 16 October 2025, which replaced administrative fines with administrative detention for a series of offences directed against participants in the demonstrations, including for covering one’s face during the protests, possessing tear gas, and for blocking roads. The Ministry of Internal Affairs started enforcing the new rules shortly after their adoption.

The Observatory notes that since the entrance into force of the new legislation on 19 October 2025 and to the date of publication of this urgent alert, at least ten media representatives were detained in Tbilisi for participating in – and in some cases for covering – the ongoing protests. All detained journalists are well known for working in independent and critical media in Georgia.

The Observatory recalls that the harassment and intimidation against journalists forms part of a broader campaign orchestrated by the Georgian Dream party to silence dissent and critical media voices. Between October 2024 and September 2025, at least 434 cases of harassment and intimidation targeting journalists and media outlets were documented. These incidents included a minimum of 122 cases of physical violence, as well as systematic practices such as the damage of professional equipment, verbal abuse, threats, and unlawful interference with journalistic activities.

The Observatory recalls that mass protests erupted throughout Georgia in November 2024, following the government’s announcement of the suspension of the negotiations over Georgia’s accession to the European Union, which came shortly after the re-election of the ruling Georgia Dream party in an unfair election. While the protests remained overwhelmingly peaceful, the police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowds, as well as excessive force and mistreatment during transportation, resulting in numerous injuries to protesters and over 480 arbitrary arrests, some of them amounting to inhuman treatment and, possibly, torture.

The Observatory also recalls that Georgia’s worsening human-rights environment is also inextricably linked to the adoption of the repressive “foreign agents” legislation, including the Law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence”, which came into force in May 2024, the “‘Foreign Agents Registration Act", and the amendments to the Law “On Grants”. These laws severely and unlawfully restrict the rights to freedom of association, freedom of expression and the right to privacy, creating a drastic, and potentially devastating impact on Georgia’s civil society and independent media.

The Observatory strongly condemns the arrests and arbitrary detention of Ms Keta Tsitskishvili and Mr Vakho Sanaia during the peaceful protests and recalls that these repressive acts are done with the deliberate aim to intimidate independent journalists and to discourage dissenting perspectives and critical coverage.

The Observatory also condemns the recently adopted legislative package, which increases punishments for protest-related activities, facilitates arbitrary arrests and detentions, and creates a hostile environment for the exercise of the right freedom of association.

The Observatory urgently calls on the Georgian authorities to cease all forms of intimidation and harassment against journalists and human rights defenders and to protect the right to freedom of expression and press freedom of independent media journalists in Georgia.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Georgia asking them to:

1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical integrity and psychological well-being of Ms Tsitskishvili and Mr Sanaia and of all journalists and human rights defenders in Georgia;
2. Immediately and unconditionally release all journalists and human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in Georgia;
3. Put an end to all acts of harassment – including judicial harassment – against Ms Tsitskishvili and Mr Sanaia and all journalists and human rights defenders in Georgia;
4. Guarantee, in all circumstances, that all human rights defenders and journalists in Georgia can exercise their freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and right to protest and other legitimate activities without fear of reprisals, and free of all undue restrictions, including judicial harassment, arbitrary arrest, deprivation of liberty or other arbitrary sanctions.

Addresses:

• Mr Irakli Kobakhidze, Prime Minister of Georgia. E-mail: info@gov.ge. X: @GovernmentGeo

• Mr Gela Geladze, Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia. E-mail: police@mia.gov.ge. X: @MiaofGeorgia

• Mr Giorgi Gvarakidze, Chief Prosecutor of Georgia. E-mail: presscenter@pog.gov.ge. X: @OfficialPOG

• Mr Shalva Papuashvili, Chair of Parliament of Georgia. E-mail: contact@parliament.ge X: @Geoparliament

• Permanent Mission of Georgia to the United Nations in Geneva. E-mail: geomission.geneva@mfa.gov.ge

• Embassy of Georgia to Belgium, Luxembourg and Mission of Georgia to the European Union. E-mail: eomission.eu@mfa.gov.ge. X: @GEOmissionEU

Please also write to the diplomatic representations of Georgia in your respective countries.

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Geneva-Paris, 4 November 2025

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. The objective of this programme is to prevent or remedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. OMCT and FIDH are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

• E-mail: alert@observatoryfordefenders.org
• Tel FIDH: + 33 (0) 1 43 55 25 18
• Tel OMCT: + 41 22 809 49 39