Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili has pardoned a prominent opposition journalist who spent more than a year in jail, amid pressure from the EU, U.S. and international NGOs seeking to secure his release.
In a statement issued Thursday evening, the president of the South Caucasus nation announced she had “signed the act pardoning Nikoloz Gvaramia,” a high-profile critic of the government who was sentenced to three and a half years behind bars in May 2022.
Zourabichvili said she made the decision to intervene after the Supreme Court declined to hear Gvaramia’s appeal. “I am not going to give any explanation for this decision, it is my discretionary right and I am using it today,” she added.
In a statement following Zourabichvili’s decision, European Council President Charles Michel welcomed the pardon “as an essential step towards depolarisation in Georgia.”
Despite a publicly stated ambition to join the EU, Georgia’s application has stalled in recent years amid warnings from Brussels that its progress in upholding the rule of law and human rights is facing “setbacks,” and amid fears the country under the governing Georgian Dream party is seeking closer economic relations with Russia.
Earlier this year in May, the government faced major protests over plans to adopt a Kremlin-style bill on purported foreign influence. While Georgian Dream ultimately dropped the legislation amid a mass outcry from protesters and condemnation from the EU and U.S., police have continued to crack down on anti-government demonstrations.
Zourabichvili, directly elected in 2018 after campaigning as an independent, has been at odds with the ruling party on a number of issues, expressing concern over its growing ties with the Kremlin. While the role of president is largely ceremonial, pardons are one area where she is able to make independent decisions.
Georgian authorities accused Gvaramia, a former MP and justice minister, of abusing his power as director of independent broadcaster Rustavi 2. He has always denied the charges, and press rights groups have decried them as “political.” The U.S. has previously expressed “deep concern” over the case.
“We are thrilled that Nika Gvaramia has been pardoned,” said Gulnoza Said, the regional co-ordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists. “He should never have been jailed, and his continued imprisonment stood at odds with the country’s purported commitment to press freedom.”
