Ombudsperson asks Georgian President to pardon Gvaramiya

Today, Georgian Ombudsperson Nino Lomdjariya has stated that Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili should use her right to pardon Nika Gvaramiya, the former general director of the “Rustavi-2” TV Channel, as the court made an unreasonable decision.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on May 16, the Tbilisi City Court sentenced Nika Gvaramiya, the former general director of the “Rustavi-2” TV Channel, to 3 years and 6 months of imprisonment in a criminal case on embezzlement. Human rights defenders and associates of Nika Gvaramiya considered the court’s verdict too harsh. On May 19, the Nika Gvaramiya’s defence announced the intention to appeal against the sentence imposed on the former general director of the “Rustavi-2” TV Channel, as the defence considered the verdict politically motivated.

Georgian Ombudsperson Nino Lomdjariya called the court’s decision in the case against Nika Gvaramiya, the former general director of the “Rustavi-2” TV Channel, unfounded and called on President Salome Zurabishvili to pardon the convict. “The Ombudsperson asks the President of Georgia to use the available powers,” Nino Lomdjariya notes in her statement as quoted by the “News-Georgia”.

“Due to the extreme scarcity of legal justification, the verdict can be assessed as essentially unfounded,” the “News-Georgia” quoted Nino Lomdjariya as saying.

Nino Lomdjariya has also stated that the Nika Gvaramiya’s sentence is a gross violation of the principles of legality and the standards of justification established by the Constitution of Georgia, national and international legislation.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 8, 2022 at 02:58 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.