President can pardon Saakashvili after all cases against him closed – lawyer

Shalva Khachapuridze, a lawyer of currently imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili, on Wednesday said that president Salome Zourabichvili would be able to pardon his client only after  all cases against him are closed.  

 

Saakashvili, who was arrested in Tbilisi in October 2021 after eight years in self-imposed political exile, had been convicted in absentia in 2018 for abuse of power in two separate cases and now is serving this sentence, while three other cases involving him are still pending.  
Khachapuridze, who earlier served as Zourabichvili’s lawyer, claimed he had plans to meet with her and discuss the issues related to Saakahshvili’s “complicated health” and his pardon.  

 

He and Saakashvili’s family say that the third president is in “urgent need” of transportation abroad for treatment.  

 

In her recent interview for BBC HARDtalk, Zourabichvili said she did not want Saakashvili to “die in prison”, but reiterated she had “no plans” to pardon him.