President Zurabishvili issues 11 pardons for Independence Day
The President of Georgia is the only authorised person in the country who can pardon inmates. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge
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Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has pardoned 11 individuals for the upcoming Independence Day, May 26.
Eight prisoners left the penitentiary facilities immediately on May 24.
The other four, including a female, were on probation and have been released from all restrictions.
The First female President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has issued her first pardon decree and has pardoned three female inmates.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has pardoned 19convicts for the Easter holiday, the head of the President’s Administration Lasha Zhvania stated.
Head of the President’s Pardon Commission Zviad Koridze has left the post and several members of the commission, who served in the role under former President Giorgi Margvelashvili, did so.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili, whose presidential term expires this week, has pardoned 57 convicts, head of the President’s Pardon Commission Zviad Koridze stated today.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has pardoned 34 individuals, including one minor and eight women on the Day of the Virgin Mary today. As of today, President Zurabishvili has pardoned a total of 97 individuals since December 17, 2018.
The candidate for interior minister and current head of the State Security Service Vakhtang Gomelauri said it is unacceptable for him to pardon an individual who has been charged with murdering a police officer.
Ruling Georgian Dream party members say that legal changes are needed to specify all the procedures and preconditions for the presidential pardon of inmates.
The statements come after two scandalous pardons by President Salome Zurabishvili, one when she pardoned a man who was sentenced for the murder of a police officer and another, which took place two weeks ago, when a man also convicted for murder was pardoned.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has declared a moratorium on pardoning prisoners until all rules and procedures are clarified. In doing so Zurabishvili is responding to recent turmoil surrounding two pardons of inmates convicted for intentional murder.
The ruling Georgian Dream party has announced a large-scale pardon. The amnesty is expected to cover 44 articles and individuals who committed crimes before December 11, 2020. The amnesty will not concern serious crime like murder and domestic violence. The bill offers several preconditions for the release of convicts who had damaged others' properties. The convicts will have to pay for the damage or they will need the consent of victims to be released.
The Georgian parliament passed an amnesty bill earlier today which covers about 70 criminal articles and concerns more than 10,000 individuals, including 1,500 prisoners.