MEPs appeal to the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili to pardon Nika Gvaramia.
European Parliamentarian Marketa Gregorova writes about this on her Twitter and publishes a relevant document.
“Dear Madam President,
Georgia has clearly declared its European aspirations since its independence. This European path is enshrined in the Constitution, and it is currently at its historical maximum, with the support of almost 90% of the Georgian people, who have consistently demonstrated their commitment to a European future.
On June 24, 2022, the European Council made a historic decision to grant a European perspective to Georgia, marking another critical step in our bilateral relations. Notably, the country was given 12 recommendations, the fulfillment of which is an inevitable prerequisite for EU membership candidate status. Two of the addressed recommendations are to undertake more vigorous efforts to guarantee a free, pluralistic, and independent media environment, particularly by ensuring that criminal procedures brought against media owners fulfil the highest legal standards by launching impartial, effective, and timely investigations in cases involving media professionals, and ensure a judiciary that is fully and truly independent, accountable, and impartial along the entire judicial institutional chain.
As pro-active advocates of Georgia and supporters of its democratic development, progress, and European future, we have been closely following the implementation of these recommendations, which have the power to bring the country to EU candidate status and positively transform it.
In this context, we are reiterating our condemnation of the politically motivated sentence of Mr Nika Gvaramia, the Director of the main opposition TV channel Mtavari, on May 16, 2022, and that the Tbilisi Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Tbilisi City Court and found Mr Gvaramia guilty on November 2, 2022.
In line with the EU recommendations, we strongly believe that critical media voices should never be silenced and that they are an essential element of a vibrant democracy. Therefore, we are addressing you with a call to consider activating the power of the Presidential pardon so that Mr Gvaramia is released from prison.
We sincerely hope you will take this step and help Georgia getting closer to its national goal – EU membership.
Sincerely,
Marketa Gregorova, Member of the European Parliament
Patrick Breyer, Member of the European Parliament
Fabio Massimo Castaldo, Member of the European Parliament
Anna Fotyga, Member of the European Parliament
Raphael Glucksmann, Member of the European Parliament
Vlad Gheorghe, Member of the European Parliament
Andrzej Halicki, Member of the European Parliament
Rasa Juknevieiene, Member of the European Parliament
Marina Kaljurand, Member of the European Parliament
Marcel Kolaja, Quaestor of the European Parliament
Andrius Kubilius, Member of the European Parliament
Pierre Larrouturou, Member of the European Parliament
Miriam Lexmann, Member of the European Parliament
Dace Melbarde, Member of the European Parliament
Karen Melchior, Member of the European Parliament
Sven Mikser, Member of the European Parliament
Mikulag Peksa, Member of the European Parliament
Peter Pollak, Member of the European Parliament
Michaela Sojdrova, Member of the European Parliament,” reads the letter.
