Parliament Speaker says “ball in opposition's court” on depolarisation after President pardons TV channel head
In his remarks over the pardoning of Gvaramia, who had been convicted in May of 2022 of improper commercial deals during his time at Rustavi 2 channel, Papuashvili said Zourabichvili had noted “pressure from outside” for the decision. Photo: Parliament of Georgia
Tweet 
Share
Georgian Parliament Speaker Shalva Papuashvili on Friday said calls for President Salome Zourabichvili to pardon Nika Gvaramia, the head of the Mtavari Arkhi TV channel, for the benefit of depolarising the domestic political environment meant the authors of the urges should now “take responsibility” for actually ensuring the outcome after the President pardoned the channel founder on Thursday.
In his remarks over the pardoning of Gvaramia, who had been convicted in May of 2022 of improper commercial deals during his time at Rustavi 2 channel, Papuashvili said Zourabichvili had noted “pressure from outside” for the decision.
[T]he President herself talked about it - that there was pressure on her from outside [...] we publicly saw appeals addressed to the President [to pardon Gvaramia]. It is pressure when you give advice to the President of an independent country and interfere too much with her specific powers”, Papuashvili alleged.
“All those who called on the President to pardon Nika Gvaramia for depolarisation - [...] thereby making a wrong connection on the issue of integration with the European Union - all these people today [should] take responsibility that depolarisation should happen after this step”, he noted.
President Zourabichvili, without giving explanation, pardoned Nika Gvaramia, convicted for legally proven crimes. He has now spent only a fraction of his time in prison. There have been some positive comments, welcoming the decision, from some Western politicians and diplomats.…
— Shalva Papuashvili ???????? (@shpapuashvili) June 23, 2023
The Parliament Speaker also said the ball was now “in the opposition's court” following the pardon, and also called on “people from abroad” who had allegedly put pressure on Zourabichvili for the outcome to “take responsibility”, adding “let us see to what extent the opposition will change its radical agenda”.