Former President of Georgia Stripped of Georgian Citizenship

Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili

TBILISI (Civil.ge)””Georgian President Georgy Margelashvili has signed a decree stripping former president Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgian citizenship, the Georgian presidential press service said on Friday, Civil.ge reports.

The president’s office said that the citizenship of Saakashvili and several other Georgian nationals were terminated with the December 4 decree because they became citizens of foreign countries.

According to Georgian legislation, a Georgian national loses Georgian citizenship after acquiring citizenship of a foreign country.

Saakashvili was granted Ukrainian citizenship in late May, when Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed him as governor of Odessa.

The Georgian Justice Ministry said late in October that it launched procedure for the termination of Saakashvili’s Georgian citizenship after receiving an official confirmation from Ukraine that Georgia’s ex-president was granted Ukrainian citizenship.

Justice Minister Tea Tskulukiani, said on December 3 that as a standard procedure the ministry notified Saakashvili in written form about losing his Georgian citizenship on November 3.

“He [Saakashvili] did not reply,”