MEP Rasa Juknevičienė on Wednesday echoed the recent statement of the Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili that the country “does not have the luxury of being denied the European Union’s membership candidate status for the second time”, and expressed hope the official would use her constitutional right to pardon the convicted head of the opposition-minded Mtavari channel, Nika Gvarmia, to facilitate the country’s EU integration process. 

“I fully agree with president Zourabichvili. Therefore, I hope the president will pardon Nika Gvaramia, a journalist and CEO of Mtavari channel. Already last November MEPs have sent a letter to the president asking that”, the MEP tweeted. 

Gvaramia, a former official under the United National Movement government, was sentenced to more than three  years in prison last year for charges of having caused damage through commercial deals to Rustavi 2 channel he chaired in 2015 and 2019.

Gvaramia and the part of the domestic opposition claim the charges were “politically grounded” and could hamper the country’s EU integration process. 

Georgia applied for EU membership in March 2022, shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with the European Council granting Ukraine and Moldova the candidate status with conditions in June, while Georgia a European perspective and conditions to meet to obtain the status this year.