The President of Georgia, Salome Zurabishvili, spoke to the Ukrainian publication Ukrainska Pravda about the issue of pardoning the former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, and the general director of the Mtavari Arkhi TV station, Nika Gvaramia.
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When asked whether President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed her regarding pardoning Saakashvili, the Georgian president said that many people asked her personally to do it, but she explained to them that “pardoning is not the outcome of that because of the Georgian population”.
“But there are other ways, and if there is pressure, the pressure should be applied where the responsibility lies and where the power lies to do something to change, for instance, I mentioned an electronic tag. All of that lies with the authorities to find ways that are more in line with what is done in the outside world.
This issue is not new. There are many presidents of many countries that have been sentenced, and sometimes we hear from other countries that it's happening. But there are also ways of dealing with the issue that are accepted, and we should be more in line with that,” stated Zurabishvili.
According to the president, Nika Gvaramia’s situation is completely different.
“The one issue that is similar [among the cases], is that the President cannot pardon under pressure, because then pressure can be exerted from within. There are, I think, 3,000 inmates at this stage. Any one of those families, friends, or influence groups can start exerting pressure.
So it's a decision that falls on me. I feel the responsibility and I will act upon it. I take full responsibility and I will act when I decide either to do it or not to do it. But the less pressure from outside, the better for pardoning.
Putting pressure on authorities, and asking for answers – that's a different thing. But, the pardoning – the discretionary power cannot become an issue for pressure,” said the Georgian president.
The journalist asked her whether she thinks prosecuting journalists is a danger to Georgian democracy. “I think there are many dangers at this point for Georgian democracy. Of course, I'm in favor of freedom of expression. I have myself been the target of very excessive words from this journalist, who was not only a journalist: he was also a prosecutor at different times, and not a prosecutor that administered real justice. But people are not responsible for other things than what they are sentenced for, and I think that freedom of expression is probably the one right that we should all defend,” answered Zurabishvili.
The third president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, who now has Ukrainian citizenship, has been in Vivamed, a contractor clinic of the Special Penitentiary Service, for more than a year due to his health condition. In May, the European Court of Human Rights rejected his request to be transferred from Georgia to Poland for treatment.
Saakashvili was arrested on October 1, 2021, on the eve of local self-government elections in Tbilisi. He has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for the cases of beating a Member of the Parliament Valery Gelashvili and pardoning the employees of the Constitutional Security Department convicted for Sandro Girgvliani murder. Saakashvili is also charged with illegal crossing of the border, raiding of Imedi TV company November 7 protest rally, illegal possession of Patarkatsishvili's property, and embezzlement of 9,024,367 GEL belonging to the Special State Protection Service of Georgia. The third president does not admit guilt and says that he is politically persecuted, and is a prisoner of Putin.
Nika Gvaramia is serving his sentence in the 12th penitentiary institution of Rustavi. On May 16 one year has passed since his arrest. On November 2, 2022, the panel of the Tbilisi Court of Appeal upheld the sentence handed to Gvaramia - 3.6 years of imprisonment. However, the appellate court partially changed the verdict of the first instance. In particular, Nika Gvaramia was arrested for appropriating a vehicle belonging to the Rustavi 2 TV company for personal use (abuse of power). According to the judgment of the Tbilisi City Court of May 16, 2022, he was charged with causing 6 763 509 GEL in damages to Rustavi 2 on the second count of the charge. In part, a fine of 50 thousand GEL was imposed. The Court of Appeal sentenced him to prison for this count as well.
