MEP Viola von Cramon on Friday hailed Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili’s Thursday's move to pardon the head of the opposition-minded Mtavari channel Nika Gvaramia as a “difficult, but only right decision”. 

“It is in the interest of Georgia to reduce polarization and undo the injustice prevalent in its judiciary”, the MEP said, adding Tbilisi was “one step closer” to the European Union’s candidacy. 

Zourabichvili’s decision came following the Supreme Court’s decision on June 19 to declare Gvaramia’s lawsuit inadmissible, and the European Commission’s oral report earlier this week on Georgia’s implementation of the 12 priorities outlined by the European Union last year for granting Tbilisi its membership candidate status, which said Georgia had shown “no progress” on media pluralism.  Gvaramia was convicted and sentenced to three years and six months in prison last year for abuse of power while at the helm of Rustavi 2 channel in 2015 and 2019.