Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili issued a strongly worded demand on 8 April to the Adjar leadership calling for the immediate release of former Batumi Mayor Tengiz Asanidze. The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on 8 April in favor of an appeal by Asanidze and called on the Adjar authorities to release him immediately. Despite receiving a presidential pardon in 1999 and being acquitted by the Georgian Supreme Court in 2001, Asanidze remained imprisoned in an Adjar prison for 10 years. A presidential candidate in 2000, Asanidze was the mayor of the Adjar capital Batumi when he was arrested in October 1993 on corruption charges. \"If the authorities of the autonomous republic do not fulfill the court ruling and my demand I will use levers and means the central authorities have to free Asanidze,\" Saakashvili said. (ITAR-TASS)