TBILISI, DFWatch – It was just another day in court for the lawyers of Bidzina Ivanishvili, in a series of legal troubles that some people describe as kafkaesque.
After throwing himself into the political ring in October 2011, the billionaire is still without a Georgian citizenship, but the case goes on.
It is currently in the Appeals Court, which at today’s hearing announced that it will make its decision known on June 29. The election is in October.
The court reviewed evidence presented by the two sides.
Zakaria Kutsnashvili, Shalva Tadumadze and Alexandre Baramidze, who are lawyers for the businessman, said that the other side doesn’t have evidence that the Civil Registry representative spoke with French Embassy representative and was told that businessman is French citizen.
Tbilisi City Court’s decision relied on exactly this evidence, when it made its decision against the businessman.
Giorgi Gabrielashvili representing the Civil Registry presented statistical data that there are tens of thousands of similar citizenship suspensions and Ivanishvili’s case is not unique. But the businessman’s lawyers counter that Gabrielashvili was unable to name a single specific case to back up this claim, which proves that they don’t have any evidence, and that the decision to revoke Ivanishvili’s citizenship is a political decision by Saakashvili.
The hearing was attanded by the head of the Georgian Dream Democratic Georgia party Manana Kobakhidze, and Eka Beselia, a lawyer working for the party, and representatives of non-governmental organizations as well as a US lawyer hired by Georgian Dream.
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