President pardons 121 inmates

About a hundred prisoners serving time behind bars will be released from prison in the latest Presidential pardon.

Georgia’s President Giorgi Margvelashvili pardoned 121 inmates to coincide with the upcoming Saint George Day celebration on November 23.

Head of the Pardon Commission Zviad Koridze spoke at a special press conference today and said 93 of the 121 pardoned prisoners would be released from prison. The sentences of the other 28 inmates would be reduced.

"Out of the 121 convicts, three are women and three persons are underage,” Koridze said.

"In total, the Commission reviewed the cases of 752 prisoners on November 14 and 15. Out of these, 350 reviewed cases were considered for pardoning while the other [applications] did not meet the criteria to be further discussed,” he said.

Koridze noted one of the pardoned inmates was a man who had been convicted of premeditated murder and his sentence had been reduced.

Other inmates to be pardoned included people who were convicted of possessing or consuming drugs while prisoners who had been sentenced for selling drugs had not been pardoned.