PM Irakli Garibashvili has called on the President and the Parliament to launch discussions on a request made by head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, who asked for giving him power to grant pardon to convicts.

The Patriarch voiced the proposal earlier on December 5, drawing criticism from some civil society groups and activists, who warned against “theocracy.”  

“We had a conversation with Mr. Prime Minister. The Patriarch should have the right to pardon inmates and probably the authorities will raise this issue,” said the Patriarch, standing alongside with the PM after attending a theater play performed by female prisoners.

Although the PM did not comment on the issue immediately after the Patriarch’s remarks, later on the same day PM’s office released a written statement saying that the head of the Georgian Church “appealed the PM with a request for the authorities to consider giving the Patriarch power to grant pardon to convicts.”

“Power to grant pardons is prescribed by the constitution. The Georgian PM thinks that increase of Patriarch’s involvement in the process of pardoning can play a positive role. Therefore, based on the request of the Patriarch, the head of the government appeals the President and the Parliament with a request to launch discussions on this issue,” the PM office said in the statement.
 
“Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, His Holiness and Beatitude Ilia II is the spiritual leader of the Georgian nation and his advice is important and valuable for every person,” the PM said in the same statement.

Under the Georgian constitution only the President has the power to grant pardons and extending this power to the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church will require constitutional amendment, which needs support of at least 113 MPs in 150-member Parliament.

Inmates’ applications for pardon are first studied by nine-member presidential pardon commission, which then sends list of convicts, who the commission believes are eligible for pardon, to the President, who has the final say in the process.

PM’s statement does not elaborate what he implies by “increase of Patriarch’s involvement in the process of pardoning”, but the reference was probably made to possible increase of Patriarchate’s representation in the presidential pardon commission.

Currently one seat in the nine-member commission is occupied by a senior Orthodox cleric, Metropolitan Theodore of Akhaltsikhe; he is a member of Holy Synod, the Georgian Orthodox Church’s main governing body.

Prison system minister, Kakha Kakhishvili, who was also attending the same event earlier on December 5 along with the Patriarch and the PM, told journalists when asked about Patriarch’s proposal: “I think that the Patriarch should really have the right to grant pardons. He is the leader of the nation. I do not know anyone wiser than him… It will require constitutional amendments.”

Ruling Georgian Dream coalition lawmaker Eka Beselia, who chairs parliamentary committee for human rights and who was also present at the same event, also spoke in favor and said that the Patriarch enjoys with the highest public confidence.

“If there is a political agreement, I am sure that this [proposal] to grant this right to the Georgian Patriarch at a legislative level will have many supporters,” she said.