Georgia decides not to pardon former head of Odesa regional administration

Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili has promised to pardon a number of opposition politicians, but this does not apply to the former president and head of the Odesa regional administration Mikheil Saakashvili.

This was reported by the Speaker of the Georgian Parliament Shalva Papuashvili.

According to him, the main reason for this exclusion is the Ukrainian citizenship of the former president. According to Papuashvili, in view of this, Mikheil Saakashvili's participation in the elections is illegal and even the former president's statements on political topics are considered foreign interference.

"No, of course, this proposal does not apply to Ukrainian citizens... The proposal concerns several politicians who have deliberately violated the Constitution of Georgia and the law," said Shalva Papuashvili.

The local elections in Georgia are scheduled for October 4, 2025. At the same time, eight opposition parties have already announced a boycott of the election process. In general, a number of political forces in Georgia do not recognize the legitimacy of the current president.

In March, the Tbilisi City Court found Mikheil Saakashvili, the third president of Georgia and former head of the Odesa regional administration, guilty of illegally crossing the borders of his homeland and sentenced him to four years and six months in prison.

Mikheil Saakashvili, the former President of Georgia and former head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, was recently sentenced to nine years in prison in his homeland for embezzlement.

The president is already serving a six-year sentence. He was convicted in the cases of pardoning the murderers of Sandro Girgvliani and the beating of MP Valerie Gelashvili.

Former Georgian President and former head of Odesa region Mikheil Saakashvili was detained by Georgian law enforcement in early October 2021.

In May 2020, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed the former head of the Odesa Regional Administration Mikheil Saakashvili as the head of the executive committee of the National Reform Council.

At the time, Georgian Ambassador to Ukraine Teimuraz Sharashenidze had previously stated that his country was likely to perceive the appointment of the former head of the Odesa Regional Administration Mikheil Saakashvili as Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine as an unfriendly and unacceptable step from the point of view of strategic partnership. Saakashvili did not become deputy prime minister.

However, it later became known that after Saakashvili was appointed head of the reform executive committee, Georgia did recall its ambassador from Ukraine for consultations.

Кирило Бойко