The power of granting pardon to convicts is discretion of solely the head of state and it cannot be regulated otherwise, parliament speaker Davit Usupashvili said on Sunday when commenting on a request made by head of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Ilia II, who asked for giving him power to grant pardons.

“I think there is a bit of a misunderstanding here – forgiveness of sins is one thing and it is clear who has exclusive right to do this, but pardoning of convicts is another issue. I don’t recall any precedent when this heavy burden of pardon… lies upon someone other than head of the state... It [the proposal] might be about involvement of [the Patriarch] rather than delegating to or sharing this power with someone else,” Usupashvili told journalists.

“I do not know a precedent when pardon [powers] are regulated differently. This is prerogative of head of the state,” said Usupashvili, who is one of the leaders of the Republican Party, part of the Georgian Dream ruling coalition.

“As far as involvement [in pardon process] and recommendations are concerned, the more people are involved and the more people provide their recommendations to the President, the better,” he said.

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. He said in a written statement on December 5 that “increase of Patriarch’s involvement in the process of pardoning can play a positive role.”

Asked about PM’s call on the President and the Parliament, Usupashvili responded: “If someone called us for something, then first of all we should also be offered ideas regarding what is it all about and then we will be able to discuss it in details.”
 
GD MP Davit Berdzenishvili, who is also from the Republican Party, was more straightforward and said that the PM should not have asked either the Parliament or the President to consider this issue.

“I do not think it was right for the Prime Minister to shy away from responsibility and to appeal the President and the Parliament, telling them: ‘you decide it.’ He should not have done this. It is not an issue that should be discussed in the Parliament,” MP Davit Berdzenishvili said.

MP Eka Beselia, who is from the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party, led by PM Garibashvili, and 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.

MP Eliso Chapidze, who is also a member of the Georgian Dream-Democratic Georgia party, said that this is the issue that may require a referendum.

“I think it should be up to the Georgian people to decide; there are theocratic states and there are states where there is a clear separation of church and state,” MP Chapidze said.

Asked if the referendum should ask voters whether they want to live in a secular or theocratic state, MP Chapidze told Imedi TV: “Yes, that’s what we should ask the public.”

MP Sergo Ratiani, executive secretary of UNM opposition party, said when commenting on the Patriarch’s proposal that separation of church and state is a foundation of any modern state and disregarding this principle would undermine the very foundation which modern states are built upon. MP Ratiani said that it would be “damaging for the Church itself” because it may lead to its involvement in politics.

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

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 examined by a 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 in which he appeals the President and the Parliament to discuss the Patriarch’s request, does not elaborate what he implies by “increase of Patriarch’s involvement in the process of pardoning”, but the reference is 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.