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President Giorgi Margvelashvili (left) and new head of the pardon commission Zviad Koridze. (Interpressnews.)

TBILISI, DFWatch–President Giorgi Margvelashvili on Friday appointed a journalist to take over as head of the pardon commission under his purview.

The journalist Zviad Koridze will become new head of the commission, filling the empty seat left by Alexandre Elisashvili, also a journalist, who left the position to become majoritorian member of the city council in Tbilisi after winning in the June 15 local election.

“Zviad has been working in the commission since November. I want to say a special thanks to him,” Margvelashvili said.

Koridze promised that the pardon commission will work to catch up with cases that haven’t been reviewed because the body has been without a chair for the last two weeks.

“We will hold several sessions this hot summer in order to not leave appeals unanswered,” Koridze said.

The commission he takes over as head of, is one of two such bodies, the other one filing under the Prison Ministry, and has the power to approve applications from prisoners about early release.