"I pardoned 3 people for the purpose of depolarization... three, and that's it"

"I pardoned 3 people in order to depolarize ... that's it, and it's over," President Salome Zurabishvili says on the Public Broadcaster and answers a question about the pardon of Nika Gvaramia, the CEO of Mtavari Channe.

She criticizes the Dream government for scheduling Nika Gvaramia's trial "at an untimely moment," when "all the spotlights were on" for Georgia.

When asked by the program host whether Nika Gvaramia's case complies with legal norms, Salome Zurabishvili replies that she is not "above the court" to evaluate it's decision.

I don't know, I can't assess it. It's not my assessment. I am not above the court to say whether the court is right or not, this point you mentioned [from the EU recommendations] is a general point and probably it should be respected. How it should be done, they should work on it.

They knew very well when they appointed the court that the reaction would be [negative]. It's one of those moves where you don't understand why you're doing it when you know all the lights are on you.

I've taken enough responsibility to depolarize. I pardoned three people, if you remember [Gigi Ugulava, Irakli Okruashvili, Giorgi Rurua]... It was for depolarization, today the authorities themselves should take responsibility for this depolarization by not taking untimely steps. That was not necessary. We all know it, and the government knows it very well too," says Salome Zurabishvili.