Prominent Georgian journalist and director-general of the independent Mtavari television channel, Nika Gvaramia, was released from prison on June 23 after President Salome Zurabishvili pardoned him for an abuse of power conviction that many rights groups, the United States, and the European Union called politically motivated. Gvaramia told journalists gathered for his release that Zurabishvili should now pardon jailed former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.