President pardons 226 prisoners, one with life sentence
By Gvantsa Gabekhadze
Friday, October 13
The President of Georgia has pardoned 226 inmates; one of them was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder.
“Out of the 226 prisoners, 141 will leave penitentiary institutions today, the remaining 85 will have their sentences shortened,” The Head of the Pardon Commission, under the President of Georgia, Zviad Koridze stated.
Koridze said that among those pardoned, 13 were women and two minors.
“12 women from this group will be released immediately,” Koridze added.
Koridze said that the Pardon Commission had discussed 1,604 cases in total and appealed to the president to pardon those they believed who deserved more.
The prisoner with the life imprisonment will have his sentence commuted.
The previous pardon took place in July, when the president pardoned 170 inmates.
120 out of the pardoned were released immediately, while the remaining 50 had prison terms reduced.
Koridze announced that nine from the pardoned were women.
He added minors were also included in the list.
The Commission discussed 1,073 cases in total in the summer.
The President’s Pardon Commission is composed of ten people including Koridze.
The Commission members are mainly lawyers from the civil sector, public figures, the Public Defender and a spiritual representative from Georgia’s Patriarchate.
The group must discuss all cases sent to the Pardon Commission by inmates or their families and decide which prisoners they believe deserve to be pardoned. The list then is sent to the President.
The President makes the final decision to pardon the inmates or not.
