Another journalist from Germany was held for hours at the border before paying a ₾5,000 ($1,900) fine — also for allegedly blocking a road. Sommer was denied entry after flying into Tbilisi on Sunday. The authorities in Georgia have over 2025 been denying entry to Western journalists critical of the governments in Tbilisi and Moscow. The Georgian Dream government has been using the accusation against local journalists covering protests on the ground. On 21 May, Simon Vandenbroucke, an Enlargement Programme Officer working for the EU Delegation to Georgia, was denied entry to Georgia without explanation.