President Saakashvili said on July 24 he would use his right of presidential pardon “in a much more restricted manner.”

“A long list of inmates seeking presidential pardoning has been presented to me… And this happened just a day after criminals shot dead a 35-year-old patrol policeman,” he told reporters.

The president was referring to an attempted robbery of a bureau de change in downtown Tbilisi on July 17. Police arrested two suspects, who are charged with killing a policeman and attempted robbery. Eight other persons (including the singer Achi Purtseladze) have also been arrested for allegedly withholding information from the police on the suspects’ whereabouts.

“I am not against pardoning inmates. It is always a pleasure to sign pardoning papers. But this is my very principled position to prevent a dangerous criminal – like the one who has shot the policeman dead; he was a four-time convict – from getting free. And I am interested in keeping these [dangerous prisoners] in jail, regardless of lobbying... So I will consider this list thoroughly and I will scrutinize it in detail for a longer period and I will use this right [to pardon inmates] in a more restricted manner,” Saakashvili said.