President under ‘severe pressure’ by domestic, foreign forces to pardon ex-pres. Saakashvili – ruling party official

The Georgian president Salome Zourabichvili is under severe pressure to pardon currently imprisoned former president Mikheil Saakashvili. The pressure is being exerted both by domestic and foreign forces, as well as potential reaction by the public, the head of the ruling Georgian Dream party in the state legislature, Mamuka Mdinaradze, said on Thursday. 

The comment comes on the heels of recent statements by Zourabichvili, who on Wednesday said a “major question” over Saakashvili would be answered “in time”, also slamming the demonstrators in front of her office demanding her not to pardon the former official and the current authorities for “disrespect” to the presidential institute. 

“The answer to the main question why Zourabichvili is not as firm in her decision not to pardon Saakashvili as in the last year has two reasons. The first is that she know exactly how the people would react to the move, due to Saakashvili’s decisions during the Russia-Georgia 2008 war, as he accused the Georgian military of launching the war, and severe human rights violations under his office, while the second reason is that the pressure maybe is coming from abroad”, Mdinaradze said. 

Calling the rally “absolutely harness” by the families who had experienced “Saakashvili’s regime”, Mdinaradze claimed the president had not reacted so strictly to a months-long domestic campaign [by the opposition and the civil sector] to pardon Saakashvili and had not described their calls as pressure.