“No Pardon” for Mikheil Saakashvili

On November 13, 2018, a lawyer from Georgian Young Lawyers Association - Revaz Adjaradze declared that former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili will be detained even after pardon if he crosses the Georgian border.

As Adjaradze explains, until the verdict of the person is not held and the convict does not have the status of a sentenced, he/she cannot be pardoned. Currently, Mikheil Saakashvili has a verdict on 2 cases and in two cases he has been sentenced to imprisonment. If Grigol Vashadze, presidential candidate from United Opposition becomes the president and pardons Saakashvili, the former president will be detained anyway for other cases with the sentence of imprisonment: the case of TV Imedi, dispersal of demonstration on November 7, 2007, the acquisition of the property of Badri Patarkatsishvili and embezzlement of the funds belonging to the Special State Protection Service. For the Cases of Sandro Girgvliani and Valeri Gelashvili, the Tbilisi City Court declared Saakashvili as guilty. The decision of the City Court on the Girgvliani case was left unchanged by the Court of Appeal, after which the defense side appealed the cassation procedure and the case of beating Valeri Gelashvil is still under the discussion at the Court of Appeals.

"As regards current affairs in the Court of Appeal, it does not matter at which stage the case is discussed in the appeal or in the supreme, since the judgment of the first instance, the person is considered convicted. With the right granted by the constitution, the president can apply for the pardon of the convicted person. Consequently, President has no restriction to pardon a convict, regardless of whether the case is in the Supreme or Appeal court. As for the other case where the imprisonment has been imposed as a preventive measure, the person is in charge of being accused and not convicted. When a person is deemed accused and not convicted unless the first instance has been sentenced, the President does not have the right to pardon the accused and consequently, if Saakashvili crosses the Georgian border, he will be detained immediately, " - said Revaz Adjaradze.

According to Revaz Adjaradze, Grigol Vashadze’s promises do not change much for Mikheil Saakashvili, though former president of Georgia has already stated that he will not ask for pardon to Vashadze. This can be used by United Opposition against Georgian Dream, when they say that if Vashadze becomes the president, Saakashvili will be returned to Georgia.