Ex-president Salome Zourabichvili not to regret Mikheil Saakashvili’s non-pardon

“The issue of Mikheil Saakashvili’s release from prison today is entirely linked to the change of the regime,” ex-president Salome Zourabchvili said in the live broadcast of Formula TV.

Salome Zourabichvili responded to the question of why she did not pardon Mikheil Saakashvili and if she regretted that decision.

According to Zourabichvili, Saakashvili’s pardon would not yield results.

“First, the legal context was created in such a way that pardon or non-pardon would not change anything. He had the second and third cases and they would continue. He would not leave the prison for a single day;
Second, my moral decision, which I am not obliged to explain, though I would say that as the President, this decision, objected to by half of the country, was morally acceptable.

Third, I don’t regret and reject what I used to say though I sympathize with him, but the situation is vague about what is going on. When I had some relations with the current government, I attempted to persuade them to treat the former president differently and take him outside the country as it happens in democratic civilized countries.

Today, I have no connections or talks. They should also understand, I mean those who support Saakashvili, that his release is entirely linked to the change of this government. Everything that is done and confronts people in the opposition, the things that are not acceptable to everyone, weakens the opposition, the whole impetus that we all want to be united,” she said.