prisoner amnesty Nov 2012

Government declares ‘ruthless’ policy toward crime

By | April 10th, 2015|Categories: News|Tags: , , , |

Irakli Garibashvili. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–After a man suspected of killing two policemen evaded arrest for almost a week, Georgia’s prime minister says that government will be ‘ruthless toward crime’. The announcement came after several law-enforcement ministers have talked about tougher […]

Families rally in support of prisoners on life sentences

By | February 13th, 2015|Categories: In brief|Tags: , |

Families demand life sentences converted so the prisoners may have hope of being free some day. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Families and relatives of prisoners with life sentences and incurable diseases rallied in front of the government house in Adjara on Thursday. They demand that the prisoners are offered a new chance to have their cases reviewed and their sentences […]

Prisoners with life sentence continue hunger strike

By | February 11th, 2015|Categories: In brief|Tags: , |

(Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–60 prisoners with life sentence are continuing their hunger strike to demand a new assessment of their cases. The prisoners on lifelong term want to be included in a mass amnesty introduced by the new Georgian Dream coalition […]

Prisoners with life sentence on hunger strike to be part of 2013 amnesty

By | January 27th, 2015|Categories: News|Tags: , , |

Prisoners with life sentence feel they are being discriminated against, Dimitry Lortkipanidze explained. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–At least 50 prisoners serving life sentences have gone on hunger strike to demand to benefit from a mass amnesty introduced in early 2013. The prisoners want to change their life sentences into a set number of years, after which […]

Queue outside president’s palace to get criminal records cleared

By | August 21st, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: |

Ex-prisoners are queueing outside the presidential palace after Saakashvili promised to clear their records. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Former prisoners and people on probation crowded outside President Mikheil Saakashvili’s palace in Tbilisi after he offered to pardon them and clear their criminal record. The president said August 19 that people who are probationers or have […]

Georgians support constitutional amendment

By | April 16th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch–Most Georgians agree with a new constitutional amendment, which was recently passed and reduced the rights of the president. People also support an initiative to reverse a decision to have parliament in the country’s second biggest city Kutaisi, […]

Number of prisoners halved in Georgia

By | April 5th, 2013|Categories: In brief, News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch–The number of prisoners in Georgia was reduced by 56.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013 compared to the same period in 2012, according to the Ministry of Corrections. The number of prisoners has been a cause of alarm during the last years. […]

After mass amnesty, some ex-prisoners go back to jail

By | March 20th, 2013|Categories: Society|Tags: |

Prisoners released in the 2013 amnesty. (Photo is unrelated to the story in the article.) (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Tengiz, a man now in his early sixties, was sentenced to 11 years in jail for burglary in 2007. December 7, 2012, he was pardoned by the president because of a difficult health condition after being recommended by Prison Minister Sozar Subari. Two […]

Over 8 000 prisoners were freed in Georgia amnesty

By | March 15th, 2013|Categories: In brief, News|Tags: |

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 […]

Georgia to move 30 Turkish prisoners to Turkey

By | February 16th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch–Georgia is to speed up the transfer of Turkish prisoners to Turkey, to let them be closer to their family as they serve out the rest of their sentence. The government wants to make it easier for people to care for a family member who is in prison, […]

7 000 released after Georgian amnesty

By | February 12th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: |

Graphic showing the number of prisoners in each prison. (Prison Ministry.) TBILISI, DFWatch–Almost to 7 000 prisoners have left Georgian jails after a mass amnesty came into force one month ago, according to the country’s Prison Ministry. This is twice as many as the government estimate before the amnesty. In total, 6 918 prisoners have […]

Georgia expands mass amnesty

By | January 26th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: |

Prison Minister Sozar Subari. (Interpressnews.) TBILISI, DFWatch — The Prison Minister says the number of prisoners that will be released under a new law on amnesty, will increase from 3 000 to 5 000. About 3 000 prisoners are already released, Prison Minister Sozar Subari told TV9 yesterday. The rest will leave […]

Released political prisoners demand Saakashvili’s impeachment

By | January 15th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch — The political prisoners who were released on Sunday demand to impeach President Mikheil Saakashvili. The former prisoners think a person who allowed having hundreds of political prisoners, and having a torture policy in the prison system, where many […]

Georgia releases 190 political prisoners

By | January 13th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: , |

TBILISI, DFWatch — 190 persons determined to be political prisoners were Sunday released from jail as a mass amnesty comes into force in Georgia. Prison Minister Sozar Subari was present at Prison No 6, which is in Rustavi, a town 20 km south of the capital. […]

Georgia releases prisoners against the president’s veto

By | January 13th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — The speaker of the Georgian parliament Saturday signed into law a bill which will release 3 000 prisoners and halve the sentence for 17 000 others in a mass amnesty. The bill is one of the most tangible results of the unexpected outcome of the […]

Georgia amnesty to begin on Sunday

By | January 11th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — The Prison Ministry plans to release political prisoners no later than Sunday, immediately after a new law on amnesty comes into force. Prison Minister Sozar Subari said after the government session today that the ministry will publish a list […]

Georgian amnesty to free 3 000, halve sentence for 14 000

By | January 4th, 2013|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — The law on amnesty, which is in about to be enforced, will release 3 000 prisoners and halve the sentence for 14 000 more. Prison Minister Sozar Subari explained to journalists on Thursday the exact number of prisoners the new law will apply to. […]

Crime is under control, says government

By | December 31st, 2012|Categories: In brief, News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — The crime situation in Georgia stabilized in December, as the number of criminal incidents has been significantly reduced, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. During a visit to a family who had been attacked by robbers, President Mikheil […]

Saakashvili visits crime victims, calls for tougher policing

By | December 31st, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — President Mikheil Saakashvili says there should be declared an emergency situation in the Georgian police. He said it while visiting a family which a few days ago was attacked by burglars. December 29, the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained […]

Georgian parliament overturns Saakashvili’s veto

By | December 29th, 2012|Categories: Elections '12-'13, News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — The Georgian parliament overrode President Mikheil Saakashvili’s veto against a law about mass amnesty. 91 MPs voted against Saakashvili’s new version of the law, while 4 supported it. Now, the Georgian Dream coalition’s law, which was passed […]

Saakashvili presents downsized amnesty bill

By | December 28th, 2012|Categories: In brief, News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili has vetoed the coming into force of a law on amnesty, and sent his own version of the law to parliament. Speaker of Parliament Davit Usupashvili on Friday said the legislative body has received the president’s […]

Saakashvili vetoes mass amnesty

By | December 28th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — President Mikheil Saakashvili will veto a planned mass amnesty passed by parliament, arguing that the new government is about to release dangerous people into society. The amnesty was passed by parliament December 22 after much […]

Georgia gives 3 500 prisoners amnesty

By | December 22nd, 2012|Categories: In brief, News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — The parliament in Georgia has finally passed an amnesty law which will mean that 3500 prisoners will be released. The goal of the bill is to soften the crime policy. It aims to achieve this by releasing some prisoners and halving the sentence for others. […]

Knife re-offender stirs debate ahead of mass amnesty

By | December 12th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — A man who was recently released from prison has reportedly attacked someone with a knife. The interior ministry December 10 reported that a prisoner named Tengiz injured a 31-year old man called Tamaz with knife and escaped from the scene. […]

Ivanishvili explains the need for amnesty

By | December 10th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — The Georgian Prime Minister expects to see a rise in crime for a few days after a mass amnesty comes into force, and says the population should understand and get on with it. Bidzina Ivanishvili Saturday visited parliament in Kutaisi, and […]

6 500 prisoners to be released in Georgia

By | November 28th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — According to preliminary estimates by the Prison Ministry, about 6 500 prisoners will leave prison in Georgia soon. Prison Minister Sozar Subari said this in an interview on one of the local TV channels Wednesday. A day earlier, his deputy Giga […]

Amnesty plan modified out of concern for consequences

By | November 28th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — The planned mass amnesty in Georgia may apply to eight thousand prisoners and 19 000 on probation. Giga Giorgadze, Deputy Prison Minister, said this Tuesday at a session of parliament’s committee of human rights during review of a draft bill. […]

Amnesty plan leads to controversy

By | November 23rd, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — Georgia’s Prime Minister says that the planned law about amnesty may increase the level of crime for a certain time in the country, but society should understand this. At Thursday’s press conference at Radisson Blu Iveria with tens of […]

A mass amnesty expected in Georgia

By | November 19th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — Georgia’s parliament on Monday started discussing a draft law on amnesty which will release thousands of prisoners and reduce the sentence of others to half. The ruling Georgian Dream coalition and the minority National Movement party hold […]

Thousands of prisoners to get amnesty in Georgia

By | November 13th, 2012|Categories: News|Tags: |

TBILISI, DFWatch — The government in Georgia is planning to give amnesty to thousands of prisoners. Some of them will be released immediately, while the rest will have their sentence reduced to half. The Georgian Dream coalition has presented a draft law in […]