On July 19, the Georgian Parliament approved in the first hearing in an extraordinary session a bill “On Amnesty” with 82 votes in favor, 0 votes against. After the final adoption of the bill, which is expected to take place this fall right before the crucial parliamentary elections, prisoners who committed crimes before July 1, 2024 and are convicted under more than 200 articles of the Criminal Code of Georgia will be granted clemencies.
The amnesty envisages either full exemption from liability and punishment or reduction of sentence by half; reduction of sentence by one-quarter; reduction of sentence by one-sixth; or a one-year reduction in probation for probationers.
The amnesty will not cover individuals convicted of: murder, drug dealing, sexual crimes, robbery, terrorism, corruption and abuse of power, involvement in the criminal underworld, conventional crimes, trafficking, and other serious and particularly severe offenses.
The amnesty was first announced by Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze during the presentation of his first annual report as the Head of the Government to the Parliament on June 28, where he said it would be “desirable” to reduce the number of Georgia’s prison population by one-third and bring the number of inmates “close to the European figure.”
According to the Council of Europe Annual Penal Statistics-SPACE I, as of January 31, 2023, Georgia’s prison population rate per 100 000 inhabitants is “very high,” more than 25 percent higher than the median European value. Notably the GD came to power in 2012 with the promise to reduce Georgia’s country’s prison population, which it claimed was unreasonable high under the United National Movement government. However, Georgia’s prison population per 100 000 inhabitants has since increased from 219.2 inmates in 2013 to 256.1 prisoners in 2023.
Rati Ionatamishvili, Chair of the Human Rights and Civil Integration Committee explained that the amnesty will apply to 4839 prisoners, and some 1000 inmates will be immediately released.
“Today, the urgency of discussing the issue of amnesty is primarily determined by the fact that Georgia ranks second from last among the 46 member countries of the Council of Europe in terms of the number of prisoners per 100,000 inhabitants, ahead only of Turkey,” the explanatory note of the bill reads, adding that Georgia’s prison population grew from 9542 in 2022 to the current 10500. The Georgian Dream said the law is necessary out of the “principles of humanism.”
Notably, the parliamentary opposition Girchi party had registered an amnesty bill back in February, which was supported by other Parliamentary opposition groups such as the United National Movement, Strategy Aghmashenebeli, European Socialists, Citizens and some independent MPs. The bill was intended to benefit larger segment of prisoners, except those who committed crimes against minors. However, the ruling party decided to go ahead with its own version.
The opposition Girchi party said it decided to support Georgian Dream’s version of the bill. “It was clear that amnesty should be done. This is not the amnesty we want… it is not universal amnesty. Although it is not what we wanted, we will support it because it affects many prisoners…,” Girchi MP Aleksandre Rakviashvili said.
Who is (Un)happy About Amnesty?
The ruling party’s amnesty caused dissatisfaction among some of the prisoners who do not fall under the criteria. They demand the widening of the scope of the amnesty. Hunger strikes have been reported in the Kutaisi, Rustavi (women’s prison) and Ksani correctional facilities.
“We are protesting this amnesty bill which does not apply to any of us in any way. We are demanding for it to apply to all of us, [to reduce the sentence by] at least one-quarter and we are not going to stop [the hunger strike] until something changes for the good,” an inmate from the women’s prison told TV Pirveli.
“There are three people in my son’s prison cell and all three of them are on hunger strike…They are demanding the amnesty to apply to all prisoners, [to reduce the sentence by] at least one-quarter, and not exclusively [to some of the prisoners],” a mother of a Ksani prison inmate told Mtavari TV.
Natia Mezvrishvili, former deputy interior minister under the ruling Georgian Dream government and now an opposition member of the For Georgia party, believes that the amnesty is designed to benefit mostly the probationers and [government-paid] “thugs” whom she says the ruling party had given the green light to unleash on the protesters, planning to grant them amnesty later. As for the prisoners, according to her, the ruling GD thinks “a prisoner is already in jail and will be easily influenced” ahead of the elections.
According to Mezvrishvili, this is “the most unfair, inhuman and fraudulent amnesty” that Georgian Dream has ever introduced and she said she believes that it is not based on any research.
UPDATE: On July 19, the families of the prisoners who are not satisfied with the amnesty protested at the Parliament of Georgia and marched towards the Presidential palace, demanding the amnesty to be universal.
“There are many articles under which no people are imprisoned. What is the point of such an amnesty? Let them at least apply [the amnesty] to the articles under which there really are prisoners,” said one of the protesters.
Amnesties and Georgian Dream
The ruling party Georgian Dream declared an amnesty in 2012 shortly after assuming power. By March 2013, over 8,000 prisoners had been released. Georgia’s prison population more than halved compared to January, 2012 when number of inmates was over 24,000.
Additional amnesties by Georgian Dream occurred in 2016 preceding the Parliamentary elections, and a few more later on. The amnesties passed in 2021 included one that granted clemency to any wrongdoers, both protesters and law enforcement officers, during the anti-occupation unrests of June, 2019 in downtown Tbilisi. The inclusion of law enforcement in the amnesty led to the controversy.
Many in Georgia believe that the ruling Georgian Dream party has been manipulating the prisoners’ issue since the day it came to power, especially before elections when it tries to gain the support of the convicts and their families and relatives.
This article was updated on July 19 at 5:38 to reflect today’s protest against the current version of the amnesty bill.
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