Lazare Grigoriadis, who was convicted of harming the health of police officers and destroying state property, has been released from the Gldani penitentiary.
Family members, relatives, lawyers and journalists were waiting to greet him outside the penitentiary building on Wednesday.
The President of Georgia issued an act of pardon for Lazare Grigoriadis that morning, having announced on April 12 that she had made the decision to pardon him.
21-year-old Lazare Grigoriadis was arrested by the police on the night of March 29, 2023. He was accused of using violence against policemen during the rallies held near the parliament building against the “Russian law,” and of setting fire to a car belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Specifically, according to the information provided by the investigation, on March 7, during the rally held on Rustaveli Avenue, Grigoriadis is said to have thrown “Molotov cocktails” twice in the direction of the employees of the Special Tasks Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who were on duty on April 9 Street, and on March 9, on Chanturia Street, the accused deliberately set fire to a Toyota Corolla belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which burned on the spot, allegedly costing the state budget 39,500 GEL in property damage.
The Tbilisi City Court found Grigoriadis guilty, and judge Zviad Sharadze sentenced him to 9 years in prison.
Grigoriadis claimed the judge had made a politicized decision in sentencing him to 9 years.
On his release, he said: “First of all, I want to thank the President, Salome Zurabishvili. The battle continues. We will meet at the rallies. The judge made a politicized decision [by sentencing me]!”
He also stated that the “Russian law” undermines Georgia’s democracy, and said the country’s government simply cannot adopt such laws on its path to the European Union.
In a televised interview which saw him sitting between his mother and grandfather, Grigoriadis noted how pleased he was to see so many people out on the streets in protest, and remembered a time it felt like it was “just him” out there speaking his mind for Georgia’s European future.
By Team GT
