Ruling party MP: if needed president will be questioned on pardon issues
President Salome Zurabishvili and her parliamentary secretary Dimitri Gabunia have been involved in the recent scandal on pardon issues. Photo: Liberali.ge.
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Ruling Georgian Dream party MP Giorgi Volski says that if necessary, Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili will be summoned for questioning per the ongoing investigation into pardon issues.
If it is needed for the investigation the president and any citizen of the country will be questioned,” Volski said, adding that he “excludes the possibility of corruption” in the pardon cases which saw several convicts for murder out of bars.
The Prosecutor’s Office is investigating possible misuse of power in several pardon cases under the authorization of President Zurabishvili.
It still remains unclear who discussed the cases of the convicts requesting pardon in the absence of the President’s Pardon Commission which has not been functional since the election of Zurabishvili as the president [she was elected in the role in December 2018, while the commission work was suspended in January 2019].
The president is authorised tp pardon inmates in Georgia. Photo: 1TV.
Zurabishvili, who criticised previous activities of the commission and urged for changes in the pardon procedures, stated last week that it was she and no one else responsible for the pardon cases which cause public turmoil.
However, European Georgia opposition party members blamed the president’s Parliamentary Secretary Dimitri Gabunia “for making illegal deals with the families of the convicts.”
Gabunia dismissed the allegations earlier today, saying that he learnt about the pardon cases [which took place at the end of August] after his vacation was ended in September and “I was concerned, I openly said in the presidential administration that I disapproved the pardon of several convicts.”
Gabunia pointed at the deputy head of the presidential administration who “supposedly was responsible for the pardon issues.”
Justice Minister Tea Tsulukiani says that the president pardoned not only those convicted for murder but also others sentenced for drug crimes, robbery and burglary.
The president has welcomed the launch of the investigation which was announced shortly after Zurabishvili declared a moratorium on the pardoning of inmates.
The Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office has launched an investigation looking into possible misuse of authority in the pardon cases of former convicts Ramaz Devadze, Aslan Bezhanidze, Zurab Nadiradze and ‘others.’ All of the three individuals, convicted for murder, have been pardoned by President Salome Zuravbishvili.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has declared a moratorium on pardoning prisoners until all rules and procedures are clarified. In doing so Zurabishvili is responding to recent turmoil surrounding two pardons of inmates convicted for intentional murder.
Ruling Georgian Dream party members say that legal changes are needed to specify all the procedures and preconditions for the presidential pardon of inmates.
The statements come after two scandalous pardons by President Salome Zurabishvili, one when she pardoned a man who was sentenced for the murder of a police officer and another, which took place two weeks ago, when a man also convicted for murder was pardoned.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili has made her first official comment on pardoning an individual who has been charged with murdering a police officer. Zurabishvili said yesterday that she is sorry that the act of pardoning, which is a ”human act” in its nature, has become the cause of misunderstanding.