President Saakashvili said on August 1 that he was reinstating Tengiz Gunava, who was released from jail on July 30 after a presidential pardon, as a governor of Samegrelo region.

Speaking at a meeting with a group of senior UNM lawmakers and provincial governors, Saakashvili said Gunava, who was sentenced to four years in jail on embezzlement charges on July 12, “should continue performing his duties as governor of Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region.” Gunava was also present at the meeting.

Commenting on the President’s decision to pardon Gunava, parliament speaker Davit Usupashvili said on July 31: “This decision confirmed one thing: we have a president who is a source of extra threat, who is entrusted by the constitution with certain rights, which have never been enough for him… We have to tolerate him for three more months and then everything will be sorted out.” Usupashvili also said that legality of President’s decision to pardon Gunava was questionable. 

President Saakashvili said on August 1 that his decision to pardon Gunava “was not only legal, but also just and his arrest was a huge injustice.”