Georgian activists suggested announcing January 13 the Day of Political Prisoner. On this day, the new Georgian authorities released 190 political prisoners. As people in "Georgian Dream" say, the myth on Saakashvili's being democratic is debunked. Almost 200 political prisoners is not at all democracy. The President himself refused to sign the relevant law first of all because 12 people accused of espionage in favor of Russia were included into the list of the pardoned.

Whether or not those people were spies - the new investigation should prove or deny it. However, all the political prisoners insist on it and “classified information” should be removed from their cases. I think it's not an issue.

Still before the pardon, I was amazed at the confessions of another person who was formerly accused of espionage in favor of Russia. He admitted his fault, cooperated with the investigation that's why he wasn't imprisoned. And when the power changed, he told one of the Georgian TV channels sincerely what had happened in reality. I listened to him and thought - here's the new “Our Man in Havana”.

It's the former pilot of air forces Gabriel Ustalishvili who said that he slandered himself “being afraid of the psychological pressure”. Ustalishvili said that the investigators offered him to make up the details of his spying for Russia! In particular, he should have confirmed that he transferred information on which forest area the Georgian equipment was hidden when the Russian aviation bombed up then during the war in August 2008. “I remembered the books and movies about spies and used it in the evidences. I made up a code word for Georgian helicopters flying to the military buildings calling them “parrots””, he said.

All this is not funny but sad. It’s naive to suppose that Russia doesn’t have agents in Georgia. Eventually, there was a war and there haven’t been diplomatic relations so far. And their restoration isn't expected. The thing is that they should arrest real spies but not those who could then be considered as political prisoners. 11 out of the 12 spies were caught in front of "Rustavi-2" cameras so as to shoot the film "Enver" on the nickname of the "introduced agent". The film turned out to be almost fiction because, as it appears, only a few things were documentary in it. Or nothing at all.

By the way, Russia arrested 9 Georgian spies after the 2008 war. There was 1 Georgian citizen among them and the remaining ones were Russian citizens and ethnic Georgians. It's interesting to know - are they real spies or again fake ones? Should they shoot another film, in Russia this time, and then release them? Or exchange them? At least, it will be fair.

And then start an espionage war from scratch...

Georgi Demetradze is among the political prisoners. Former forward of the Georgian national football team and the best goal-scorer of the Russian football championship of 1999 and champion of Ukraine of 2004 was released after 2 years and 7 months instead of the 6 years of imprisonment. During the rule of the former power, Demetradze was accused of his connections with criminal authorities and organizations of underground totalizators.  The football player strongly denied it. He should have finished his career on the field while he finished it in prison, at the friendly match against his former partners who got a special permission for such a game in prison. For Demetradze and other convicts, it was a match of honor and they won 8-7. He scored the half of the goals himself. But not the crowded stands of the stadium applauded him what he was accustomed to but the prisoners - like him. Perhaps, it's harder to deserve their ovations, though.

Demetradze's career was broken - he was offered contracts for 3 years in Ukraine and Cyprus before the arrest. But he'll play on the field again. Together with his former partner and current Minister of Energy of Georgia, Kakha Kaladze, to play in the farewell match of the latter with "Milan". The thing is that someone ought to be responsible if Demetradze and 189 other "prisoners of conscience" are not guilty!

Mikhail Vignanski is a journalist. He lives and works in Tbilisi.

These views are his own.