Politicians and Public Defender React to President’s Pardon of Nika Gvaramia
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili announced on June 22 that she signed the act of pardoning Nika Gvaramia, the Director General of TV company “Mtavari”.
We compiled for our readers the reactions from Georgian politicians and the Public Defender of Georgia.
Reactions by the ruling party
Shalva Papuashvili, Parliament Speaker: “We could see that there was a lot of pressure on the President regarding this pardon, and it showed. This pressure on the President was both overt and covert. We hoped that the President would be on the side of the rule of law and the justice for the Georgian people, but she chose another side and made this decision [to pardon Nika Gvaramia]. The main thing is that every decision has its own motive, and it is probably no coincidence that yesterday the President did not name the motive for her decision… of course she could not mention humanism as a motive, since the convict himself did not ask for a pardon, and… she could not say that this was done to depolarize, because that would have been the height of cynicism…. The very fact that the motive was not mentioned emphasizes that there is another motive behind it, which is unfortunate. Let’s accept this situation as it is, time will judge everything”.
Rati Bregadze, Minister of Justice: “It was the press conference of Mrs. President where she did not name the argumentation and she said that she would not talk about the argumentation… [In the government] we didn’t have any kind of consultation, as soon as the resolution came, we started to implement it…I don’t think that the specific case and the pardon have anything to do with Georgia’s European integration”.
Givi Mikanadze, “Georgian Dream”: “This person has trampled her dignity and the President’s institution, insulting it with this decision, and most importantly, this person showed the whole society that she does not act in the interests of the majority of the society, but is fulfilling orders”.
Eka Sepashvili, “People’s Power”: “I can’t say that Mrs. President’s decision on releasing Nika Gvaramia was unexpected – no, because there were indications from the President that she was planning to do it. It’s her discretionary right and I agree with that, but I think it would have been good if she talked about her motives, what led to her decision”.
Remarks by the opposition
Levan Bezhashvili, “United National Movement”: “The president made a responsible, statesperson-like decision. The president was guided by the Constitution of Georgia, state interests, interests related to Georgia’s European perspective, and therefore made this responsible decision… We demand from the President that it is not enough to take only half steps. Today the national interests of Georgia also demand the release of Mikheil Saakashvili”.
Paata Manjgaladze, “Strategy Agmashenebeli”: “This is really a statesperson-like decision… The position of the leaders [and] supporters of “Georgian Dream” – who perceive this as a personal failure – is incomprehensible to me.”
Gigi Tsereteli, “European Georgia — Movement for Liberty“: “I think this decision of the President is a correct one… it should be acceptable and joyful for everyone, because it serves a universal value – people, politicians, opponents, journalists with different opinions cannot sit in prison… There should be mechanisms in the country to neutralize this”.
Vakhtang Megrelishvili, “Girchi”: “I don’t know the logic of Mrs. President. What I told you, from the point of view of justice, we ourselves called for this step to be taken with this logic and not with another logic, because I have no guarantee that this decision will reduce either polarization or confrontation…”
Remark by the Public Defender
Levan Ioseliani, Public Defender of Georgia: “I welcome President Zurabishvili’s decision to pardon Nika Gvaramia. Today we are closer to Europe”.
This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)
