Nika Gvaramia, imprisoned by the Georgian government politician and journalist, was pardoned by the Georgian president Salomé Zourabichvili on the evening of June 22.
In May 2022, a court sentenced Gvaramia, director of Mtavari Arkhi TV, a critical to the government TV channel, to three and a half years in prison for abuse of power and incarcerated him. In October 2022, the Tbilisi Court of Appeals rejected his appeal against conviction and sentence. He appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia. On June 19, 2023, the Supreme Court declared inadmissible the cassation appeal and ruled to leave Nika Gvaramia in prison.
The EU and the US had declared the imprisonment unjust and politically motivated.
In a statement issued on November 2, the EU recalled that “stronger efforts to guarantee a free, professional, pluralistic and independent media environment, notably by ensuring that criminal procedures brought against media owners fulfill the highest legal standards,” represents one of the priorities identified by the European Commission.
In November 2022, the US Embassy in Tbilisi stated that “the continued imprisonment of Nika Gvaramia… puts at risk the clear choice of the people of Georgia – and Georgian leaders stated goal – for a more secure, democratic European future”.
The Supreme Court’s rejection of the appeal caused several negative for the government articles in the European and US media.
