President Salome Zourabichvili has pardoned Giorgi Shanidze, who was arrested during a protest against the Russian Law and sentenced by the court to four years in prison.
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Salome Zourabichvili issued the decree for pardon today, September 20. Giorgi Shanidze has already been released from the penitentiary.
Shanidze was arrested on May 8, 2024, under the first part of Article 187 of the Criminal Code, charged with damaging a surveillance camera at the Parliament. Following his arrest, the prosecutor's office additionally charged him under the second part of Article 265 of the Criminal Code, which involves the illegal cultivation of cannabis and is punishable by four to seven years of imprisonment.
“If it weren’t for the political nature of this lawsuit, I wouldn’t have been caught, and I would be free. Imprisonment is not appropriate for me,” Shanidze appealed to Judge Mikheil Jinjolia on September 16, just before the guilty verdict was announced.
Based on available information, Shanidze himself applied to the President for a pardon. He is the second person arrested under criminal law for protesting against the Russian Law to be pardoned by Salome Zourabichvili.
On April 24 of this year, the President issued a pardon for Lazare Grigoriadis. The 21-year-old was arrested by police on March 29, 2023. The prosecutor's office accused him of throwing a Molotov cocktail at employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and setting fire to a Ministry vehicle during the protest against the Russian Law on so-called Foreign Agents on Rustaveli Avenue on March 7. Grigoriadis was sentenced to nine years in prison by Tbilisi City Court judge Zviad Sharadze.
