President Refuses to Pardon Archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze

The President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili has refused to pardon the convicted Archpriest Giorgi Mamaladze, and made the relevant statement at the special briefing today.

"Regarding Giorgi Mamaladze, I was guided by the main principle: not to promote any new confrontation in society by my decision... I could not find an argument why an exception should be made in the case of convicted Archbishop," she said.

The Holy Synod on November 8 requested the President release the Archbishop.

Mamaladze was detained in September 2017 for allegedly plotting the murder of a high-ranking clergy member of the Georgian Orthodox Church and sentenced to 9 years of imprisonment, being found guilty by the Tbilisi City Court. 

By Ana Dumbadze 

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