Prisoners to be granted pardon on Christmas

Granting pardon to prisoners is planned on Christmas, announced the head of State Pardon Commission Alexander Elisashvili at a press-conference today. According to him, after Christmas, prisoners will be discharged on March 3, Easter, and May 26. Elisashvili also noted that the commission is already working on improving the criteria for the discharge.

"The first wave of discharges occurred according to the old criteria, which are not humane and need to be improved. Yesterday we had a working meeting of the commission and tomorrow we will send the renewed project of the regulations to the Presidents Administration. If the President approves our project, the process of granting pardon will become very transparent and humane, said Elisashvili.

He also noted that a web page will be created and the families of prisoners will be able to check the status of their relatives by their personal number.

According to him, the Commission has reviewed 160 applications and 75 recommendation were issued. The President issued the pardons yesterday.