Georgia

Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili has pardoned 226 people for the Feast of the Assumption of Mary. Those pardoned include nine protesters detained in several anti-government and pro-EU protests that took place between May 2024 and October 2025.

According to the constitution, pardons are an exclusive power afforded only to the president. Traditionally, Georgian presidents issue pardons on specific holidays, usually ahead of the New Year or the Assumption of Mary. Under the current rules, the president can release a convicted person from serving the remainder of their sentence, reduce their sentence, or replace it with a lighter sentence.

The pardons were announced by the presidential administration. The pro-government TV channel Imedi reported that the anti-government protesters who were released had appealed to Kavelashvili for clemency.

Those released include:

• Saba Jikia, a 19-year-old student, who was arrested in December 2024 and charged with ‘kicking a police officer’ during a protest on 30 November 2024. The officer involved, Beka Gotiashvili, said during the trial that he had not received any injuries. On 10 July 2025, Tbilisi City Court Judge Tamar Mchedlidze sentenced Jikia to four years and six months in prison.
• Davit Khomeriki, 26, who was detained in December 2024 following an administrative arrest at a protest. Police claimed they found a Molotov cocktail in his bag, and he was subsequently accused of preparing a crime. Khomeriki denied the charges, saying that police officers who had subjected him to psychological and physical abuse during his arrest had lied in court. His defence argued that there was no evidence against him other than police testimony. He was sentenced to four years and six months in prison by Judge Nino Galustashvili.
• Simon Makharadze and Avtandil Topchishvili who were arrested in connection with the 4 October 2025 protests, which the opposition dubbed a ‘peaceful revolution’. The protests were planned to coincide with local elections taking place in the country on that day.
• Daniel Mumladze, 23, and Guram Khutashvili, 26, were sentenced to three years in prison for damaging surveillance cameras on Tbilisi’s central Rustaveli Avenue during the December 2024 protests. Both admitted their guilt and said they were willing to pay for the damage, reportedly amounting to ₾12,000 ($4,400), but the prosecutor refused to accept their guilty plea and proceeded with the trial.
• Tornike Mchedlishvili, who was sentenced to five years in prison in connection with the 4 October protests. He was convicted of attempting, as part of a group, to seize facilities of special importance and participating in organised violence. Mchedlishvili, like the other defendants in the case, did not plead guilty.
• Pridon Bubuteishvili, 20, who was arrested in May 2024 and charged with injuring a firefighter and damaging the parliament’s gates by throwing stones at them during a 1 May protest against the foreign agent law. Tbilisi City Court sentenced him to five years in prison. The Prosecutor General’s Office reportedly refused to sign a plea deal with Bubuteishvili.
• Denis Kulanin, a Russian activist based in Georgia, who was sentenced to two years in prison for damaging a police car during a March protest outside parliament. He pleaded guilty and apologised for the damage. Kulanin is currently being held at a temporary migration centre and may face deportation.

The presidential administration said the pardon affected 217 people serving prison sentences and six people serving non-custodial sentences, while three people had their convictions expunged.

The administration added that the president’s decision to use his constitutional powers was based on ‘the principle of humanism and state interest’.

Several dozen demonstrators arrested during the 2024–2025 protests remain in custody, widely viewed both internally and internationally as prisoners of conscience.