The Ukrainian Supreme Court on November 19 recognized the act of forcing ex-President of Georgia and ex-Governor of Odesa region Mikheil Saakashvili to leave Ukraine for Poland as lawful.
In particular, the judges did not satisfy the cassation appeal filed by Saakashvili against the border guards, the Migration Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs for recognizing his expulsion to Poland unlawful, according to the court's press service.
Saakashvili was suing the Ukrainian authorities for their actions on February 12, 2018.
The full text of the ruling is to be made available within five days.
Read alsoSaakashvili set to return to Georgia soon – media
As UNIAN reported earlier, in July 2017, the then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko issued a decree depriving Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship. The latter was charged with three articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: criminal attempt (Part 1 of Article 15), criminal offense committed by a group of persons (two or more) upon prior conspiracy (Part 2 of Article 28), as well as assistance to members of criminal organizations and covering up their criminal activity (Part 2 of Article 256).
On February 12, 2018, Saakashvili was transferred to Poland under the readmission procedure.
On May 28, 2019, newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky excluded from his predecessor Petro Poroshenko's decree dated July 26, 2017, the provision on depriving Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship.
On May 29, 2019, Saakashvili arrived at Kyiv's Boryspil Airport from Warsaw, Poland, saying he returned to Ukraine not for revenge.
On October 7, 2019, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine opened criminal proceedings at the request of Saakashvili over his expulsion from Ukraine.
