83 prisoners pardoned in Georgia

On August 2, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili signed a decree on pardon, according to which 40 people would leave prisons, and for other 43 prisoners, their sentences would be shortened.

The new pardon for prisoners in Georgia was announced by Zviad Koridze, the chairman of the commission on pardon, at a press conference held on August 2. He noted that in the period from July 23 to July 29, the commission on pardon examined 976 cases of prisoners and after that the relevant recommendations were sent to the Georgian President, the "InterPressNews" reports.

The number of the pardoned prisoners who will leave prisons due to the decree on pardon signed by the Georgian President includes one woman. Among 43 prisoners, whose sentences are shortened, there are two women, one minor, and a prisoner, sentenced to indefinite imprisonment, to whom the President set a specific date for release, the "Sputnik-Georgia" reports.

On July 23, after consultations with NGOs, community groups and civil activists, Giorgi Margvelashvili lifted the moratorium on pardoning persons sentenced for violence, introduced in April, and gave the commission on pardon an opportunity to consider cases containing signs of violent nature, the "Sputnik-Georgia" reports.

Let us remind you that on April 16, Giorgi Margvelashvili announced the suspension in the process of pardoning of people sentenced for violence. That happened after a young woman was killed in Tbilisi on April 13. On April 14, her stepfather was arrested on suspicion of the murder. Investigators found out that earlier, he had served a sentence for domestic violence and had been pardoned.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 3, 2018 at 07:55 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.