TBILISI, DFWatch–The prisoner amnesty in Georgia ended its term of execution March 13. 8 322 prisoners were freed in total.

According to the Prison Ministry, about 800 cases are still pending review in court. Most of them are about charges of fraud, cases which require the agreement of the victim, after which it will be brought to court.

The courts will have four more months to go through the pending cases.

According to the ministry, 175 of the 8 322 prisoners who had been freed by March 13 were on the list of political prisoners, while 360 were women and 21 underage male prisoners.

17 prisoners were released March 13. The amnesty law was met with strong resistance from President Mikheil Saakashvili, who twice refused to sign it, but it was finally passed by parliament.

There were 24 079 prisoners serving their term in Georgian prisons in January of 2012. The number has reduced by more than half for the last one year mainly because of enforcement of the law on amnesty. In January of 2013 the number was reduced to 13 170 and in February it was 11 107, by the data of the Prison Ministry.