TBILISI, June 16 (RIA Novosti) - Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has pardoned 58 prisoners, the chairwoman of the state pardon commission said on Tuesday.

Yelena Tevdoradze said 47 prisoners had been freed, while the sentences of the remaining 11 had been halved. All the prisoners are male.

"We have considered up to 250 cases...The cases were rather complicated, so we faced a hard choice," Tevdoradze told journalists.

The pardon lists included female prisoners, but they have not been pardoned because an investigation on a riot in a female prison in April has not been completed.

"The names of several women that the commission earlier recommended for a pardon have been withdrawn," Tevdoradze said.