Kavelashvili Pardons 226 Prisoners Including Nine Protest-Related Detainees

President Mikheil Kavelashvili pardoned 226 people — 217 serving custodial sentences, six non-custodial, and three with records expunged — to mark the Orthodox feast of Mariamoba, in his first known clemency for a protest-related prisoner since the movement began. Among those released was Fridon Bubuteishvili, sentenced to five years for damaging Parliament's gate and injuring a firefighter during the spring 2024 anti-foreign-agents-law protests, who had applied for clemency roughly four months earlier. Eight other protest-related detainees — including participants in the Nov-Dec 2024 demonstrations and the Oct 4, 2025 'peaceful revolution' case, and Russian citizen Denis Kulanin, who faces possible deportation — were also among the 226. The Presidential Administration said the move reflected 'the principles of humanism and the national interest'; most individual names were not disclosed.