President Salome Zurabishvili pardoned Giorgi Shanidze, an activist against the Foreign Agents Law, days after the court sentenced him to four years in prison.
Shanidze was arrested in May during protests against the Foreign Agents Law and later convicted on charges of damaging surveillance cameras and growing cannabis. His supporters saw the sentence as an “exemplary, demonstrative punishment” designed to intimidate critics ahead of crucial elections.
The president’s administration announced the decision on September 20, without revealing the identity of the pardonee. The statement said the convict was “fully released from the subsequent serving of the prison sentence in a penitentiary institution.”
Shanidze left the prison on the same night, cheerfully telling the reporters that the decision was “unexpected.” He said he didn’t deny the offense but believed that the punishment was disproportionate.
This is the second time that President Zurabishvili has pardoned an activist sentenced over protesting against the Foreign Agents Law. In April, she pardoned Lazare Grigoriadis, a young man sentenced to 9 years in prison for throwing a Molotov cocktail at a police officer and setting fire to a police car during the March 2023 protests, charges Grigoriadis denies.
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