An unlawfully deported associate of ex-Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told the Kyiv Post late on June 11 that he had not been allowed to board a plane to Kyiv from Georgia – despite Ukrainian court rulings in his favor.
Mikheil Abzianidze, who is fighting to rejoin his wife and daughter in Ukraine, said that Tbilisi Airport employees had told him that he cannot board the plane because they had been told by the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, that he was not allowed to fly there.
Next day, the airport gave Abzianidze a copy of an alleged letter from Ukraine’s State Border Guard saying that he cannot enter Ukraine without stating explicit reasons. The Kyiv Post obtained a copy of the letter.
The State Border Guard and State Migration Service could not immediately comment, while the SBU and Tbilisi Airport did not respond to requests for comment.
In March and May, the Kyiv Administrative District Court and the Kyiv Administrative Court of Appeal both ruled that the State Migration Service’s decision to expel Abzianidze from Ukraine to Georgia in October had been unlawful, and canceled the decision.
Later Abzianidze’s lawyers obtained letters from the State Migration Service and State Border Guard saying that the ban on his travel to Ukraine had been canceled. The Kyiv Post obtained copies of the letters.
In October and November, Abdizianidze and six other Georgian associates of Saakashvili were deported to Georgia by Ukrainian authorities without court warrants, with the Georgians claiming they had been kidnapped and beaten. Under Ukrainian law, forced deportation is only possible if authorized by a court.
Then Human Rights Ombudsman Valeria Lutkovska said in November that three of the Georgians had been illegally kidnapped and deported by the National Police without court warrants. The authorities denied accusations of wrongdoing, but failed to present the legal grounds for the deportations.
The authorities have so far failed to present documents for the cancelation of five of the seven Georgians’ residence permits.
Saakashvili himself, a vehement critic of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, was deported from Ukraine to Poland without a court warrant on Feb. 12 as part of what he sees as a political vendetta by Poroshenko.
Saakashvili’s detention and expulsion violated numerous laws, lawyers for Saakashvili and independent attorneys said. The authorities deny accusations of wrongdoing, claiming that Saakashvili’s deportation was legal.
