Georgian politicians react to Saakashvili's restored Ukrainian citizenship

Members of the ruling "Georgian Dream" Party have criticized the decision to return the Ukrainian citizenship to Mikhail Saakashvili. In his turn, Roman Gotsiridze, an MP from the "United National Movement" (UNM) Party, on the contrary, believes that Saakashvili's return to Ukraine implies his soon return to Georgia.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, signed a decree to return the Ukrainian citizenship to the former President of Georgia, Mikhail Saakashvili.

The Georgian Prosecutor's Office is seeking to extradite Saakashvili to his homeland, where he had been sentenced in absentia to three years in jail for abuse of power when pardoning convicts for killing a businessman, and to six years in jail for beating up an MP.

"Saakashvili can't explain why he had given up the Georgian citizenship and obtained the Ukrainian one," Ekaterina Beseliya, a former member of the "Georgian Dream", said on air of the "Imedi-2" TV Company, adding that because of this decision, Saakashvili "has no moral authority."

Giga Bokeriya, one of the leaders of the "European Georgia" Party, treats Saakashvili's deprivation of the Ukrainian citizenship as unfair. He called on the Georgian government to stop persecuting Saakashvili and other political opponents.

Roman Gotsiridze, an MP from the oppositional UNM, believes that President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, appreciates Saakashvili's reforming experience; and Ukraine will continue Georgia's path of reforms.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 30, 2019 at 04:10 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.