On September 17, the Georgian Parliament adopted in third hearing the law “On Amnesty” with 84 votes in favor, 0 votes against. According to the law, the prisoners who committed crimes before July 1, 2024 and are convicted under more than 200 articles of the Criminal Code of Georgia will be granted clemencies.
The amnesty law – adopted a month before the crucial parliamentary elections – envisages either full exemption from liability and punishment or reduction of sentence by half; reduction of sentence by one-quarter; reduction of sentence by one-sixth; or a one-year reduction in probation for probationers.
The amnesty will not cover individuals convicted of: murder, drug dealing, sexual crimes, robbery, terrorism, corruption and abuse of power, involvement in the criminal underworld, conventional crimes, trafficking, and other serious and particularly severe offenses.
The amnesty was first announced by Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze during the presentation of his first annual report as the Head of the Government to the Parliament on June 28, where he said it would be “desirable” to reduce the number of Georgia’s prison population by one-third and bring the number of inmates “close to the European figure.”
Also Read: