3655 Convicts Pardoned By President Margvelashvili Since 2013

Most presidents around the globe have the privilege of being able to pardon convicts, often exhibiting the mercy of the State towards well-behaved and reformed inmates. This power is often contested, as an arbitrary process favoring a selected few, while thousands of other inmates don’t receive this honor.

The ruling years of Mikheil Saakashvili were marked by a high increase in the incarceration rate, a fact often criticized by the opposition as being politically motivated. Presently, the Georgian President has the full authority to pardon inmates and he has used his right regularly over the past six years, contributing to the recent decrease in the incarceration rate. Yet just last month, a report on prisons was published condemning Georgia's high incarceration rate, which tops all other European countries.

Since 2013, President giorgi Margvelashvili pardoned 3655 inmates, according to a new statement published by the Ministry of Penitentiary and Probation at the request of InterPressNews agency.

In other countries, convicts of minor crimes are not usually pardoned; however, Margvelashvili pardoned 1645 who had been imprisoned on grave charges, many sentenced to over 10 years of jail time. Many were pardoned without an official explanation from the Presidential Administration, leading to questions about the reasons behind the President’s decisions.

On the other hand, the President has followed up on his previously stated commitment to help drug crime convicts. The report reads that the President pardoned around 1812 convicts sentenced for drug-related crimes. Georgia is considered to have one of the harshest drug laws, often resulting in long sentences for small possessions of illegal substances.

Below are the exact numbers of pardons given out over the past six years:
2013: 71

2014: 787

2015: 1006

2016: 834

2017: 840

2018: 17

By Benjamin Music