President Giorgi Margvelashvili has pardoned 463 prisoners so far this year. (DF Watch.)
TBILISI, DFWatch–Wednesday was probably the happiest day in the lives of 88 prisoners in Georgia, as they were allowed to walk free following a presidential pardon. Another 27 got their sentences reduced by half or one third.
The decree by President Giorgi Margvelashvili pardons 115 inmates. It was the third decree this year. In April, the president pardoned 95 prisoners, and 280 in July. Next pardoning decree will be most likely issued in December.
The head of the president’s pardon commission, Zviad Koridze, told media that there were seven juveniles and one woman among those pardoned today. In total, the commission looked through 699 applications.
Two inmates who were convicted of premeditated murder got their sentences shortened by half. This, according to Koridze, was a hard and painful decision. “The commission gave its recommendations to the president, and he was the one who made these decisions,” he explained to the media.
It is common for the president to pardon prisoners in connection with important public holidays.
The president’s pardon commission is one of two such bodies in Georgia, the other one filing under the Ministry of Corrections.
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