Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili alarmed over sentence to Mikhail Saakashvili

Today, after the verdict, pronounced against his predecessor, Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has noted that the presidential right to pardon prisoners was used for political persecution of Mikhail Saakashvili.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on December 5, the Tbilisi City Court found Mikhail Saakashvili guilty of abuse of power when pardoning the defendants sentenced in the case on the murder of businessman Sandro Girgvliani and sentenced him to three years of imprisonment.

"It is shocking that the Prosecutor's Office used the constitutional article on the right to pardon to prosecute [Mikhail Saakashvili]," Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili told journalists when commenting on the verdict to his predecessor.

Giorgi Margvelashvili has emphasized that "according to international standards, it is a launch of the prosecution under the constitutional article, which generates a lot of questions. And that seriously damages the external political image of Georgia," the "Sputnik Georgia" reports.

In 2017, Giorgi Margvelashvili himself used the presidential right to pardon prisoners on five occasions and amnestied 831 people.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.