Georgian MP says pardoned protesters "repented"

Participants in anti-government protests who were released on August 28 admitted their guilt and asked for a presidential pardon, Georgian MP Archil Gorduladze said.

Gorduladze said the government had repeatedly stated that people who admitted their guilt and repented for their actions would be treated with leniency, Caliber.Az reports, citing Georgian media.

“The same situation applies here: these people admitted what they had done, repented and appealed to the president for a pardon – and the president showed leniency,” he said.

President Mikheil Kavelashvili pardoned 226 people in connection with the Mariamoba holiday, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Nine of those pardoned were participants in unrest in 2024 and 2025.

Georgia was rocked by a prolonged wave of protests in 2024 and 2025 over the country’s political direction and its stalled bid to join the European Union.

In April 2024, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against a government-backed “foreign agents” law requiring organisations receiving more than 20% of their funding from abroad to register as agents of foreign influence. Critics said the legislation resembled Russia’s crackdown on dissent, while the government described it as a transparency measure.

The protests intensified after the October 2024 parliamentary election, whose results were disputed by the opposition. In November, the government announced it would suspend EU accession talks until 2028, triggering further pro-European demonstrations.

By Aghakazim Guliyev