Guram Khutashvili, who was detained during a protest rally, said it came as a surprise to him that he would leave the penitentiary facility on August 28. According to him, he had submitted a pardon request earlier.

“To tell you the truth, I had absolutely no idea and wasn’t expecting it at all. I had submitted the pardon request earlier, about nine months ago,” Guram Khutashvili said.

As for the situation in prison and how he was treated, he said it was “neither bad nor good.”

For reference, Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili pardoned 226 people on the occasion of the Mariamoba holiday. Among those pardoned were Avtandil Topchishvili and Tornike Mchedlishvili, who had been detained in connection with the October 4 case, as well as Fridon Bubuteishvili, Davit Khomeriki, Simon Makharadze, Saba Jikia, Guram Khutashvili, Daniel Mumladze and Denis Kulanin, who had been detained during protest rallies.