Human Rights Center Finished Survey into Pardon Power

Human Rights Center finalized the study of the Pardon Power, which included the survey into Georgian and foreign countries’ models.

During the study, Human Rights Center identified problematic issues together with the members of the Pardon Commission, with the representatives of the President’s Administration, Academic circles and nongovernmental organizations, and with practicing lawyers. The specialist of comparative law studied the models of Pardon Power of the following countries: Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Ireland, Austria, Hungary and USA. Interesting examples of few more countries were also analyzed in the report.

In the next stage, the Human Rights Center presented the results of the survey to key actors of the Pardon Power in Georgia, whose opinions were additionally analyzed in the survey and some issues were clarified.

According to the survey results, although the clemency is exclusive constitutional prerogative of the president, there are issues which need relevant legislative regulations to make the pardon procedures more transparent and clear for citizens and particularly for convicts.

The Survey showed, that since the Constitution of Georgia grants the authority to pardon convicts exclusively to the head of the state, the President, it is beneficial that the President has created an advisory board, the Pardon Commission, to make recommendations about each petition for a pardon. This model, although democratic in nature, is not without its shortcomings and requires a number of improvements to reduce confusion and increase the perception of impartiality of pardon decisions in society and among convicts. 

On February 29, Human Rights Center will present the Study Report “Pardon Power – Georgian Model and International Experience” in the Tbilisi Marriot Hotel.

The Survey was conducted with financial support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation. The Report does not necessarily reflect the views of the Open Society Georgia Foundation. So, the Foundation is not responsible for the content of the report.