Kavelashvili pardoned 49 convicts

Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili pardoned 49 prisoners on the occasion of the Giorgoba holiday.

As "Caucasian Knot" reported, pardons of prisoners in Georgia are often timed to coincide with religious holidays. For example, in October, the sixth president of Georgia Mikheil Kavelashvili pardoned 70 prisoners on the occasion of the Svetitskhovloba holiday . In April, Kavelashvili pardoned 33 people on the occasion of Easter.

In connection with the holiday of Giorgoba (St. George's Day), Mikheil Kavelashvili pardoned 49 convicts, InterPressNews reported today.

The pardon affected 34 convicts serving sentences in penitentiary institutions, 14 people whose sentences did not involve imprisonment, and one person's criminal record was expunged, the publication states.

St. George's Day is celebrated in the country today. Festive services dedicated to Giorgoba are held in all active churches, according to Novosti-Gruzia.

St. George is considered the patron saint of Georgia. The Georgian Orthodox Church celebrates his memory twice a year: on May 6 and November 23. Moreover, the November date has the status of a public holiday and an official day off, the publication writes.

As a reminder, Georgia's fifth president, Salome Zurabishvili, also regularly issued pardons, including in connection with Christian holidays. Thus, on August 4, 2024, she pardoned 22 convicts, on August 26 - 17, and on November 11 - another 11.

Pardons of convicts, including on the occasion of Giorgoba, were also carried out by Zurabishvili's predecessor, the fourth president of Georgia Georgi Margvelashvili.

From August 2019 to January 2020, a moratorium on pardons was in effect in Georgia. It was introduced after Ramaz Devadze, sentenced to 15 years for the murder of a police officer, was included among those pardoned by the president. The decision to pardon Devadze was criticized not only by the opposition but also by members of the ruling Georgian Dream party.

On January 6, 2020, when the moratorium was lifted, Zurabishvili pardoned five people. This outraged human rights activists, who pointed out that hundreds of prisoners were awaiting pardon.