Bidzina Ivanishvili appealed against denial of restoration of his Georgian citizenship

On January, 24, attorneys of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili appealed to the Appellate court of Tbilisi in order to lodge a complaint against the judgment of the city court on the case of restoration of his Georgian citizenship.

Earlier, the "Caucasian Knot" reported that on December, 27, 2011, city court of Tbilisi brought a standing judgment concerning the decree of the President on deprivation Bidzina Ivanishvili of citizenship. Upon the decision of the court, Georgian citizenship of his wife Ekaterina Khvedelidze was restored.

"We demand from the Appellate court to acknowledge the decree of the President on deprivation Bidzina Ivanishvili of Georgian citizenship unlawful", attorney Zakariya Kutsnashvili declared. According to him, consideration of a case of citizenship does not generally take more than two or three months but it cannot be ruled out that Ivanishvili's case will take five months.

Besides, on January, 11, a group of Ivanishvili's lawyers submitted an application for urgency in granting citizenship to the businessman to Civil Register Agency of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia.

Kutsnashvili remarked that on January, 25, the judgment concerning Ekaterina Khvedelidze would come into effect. The Court of Tbilisi decided that deprivation Khvedelidze of citizenship had been unlawful because at the moment when she was admitted to the citizenship of Georgia she had already been citizen of Russia and France, "Novosti-Georgia" reports.

Administration of the President of Georgia does not intend to challenge the judgment of city court of Tbilisi concerning the citizenship of billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili's wife in the Appellate court. This was reported on January, 24, by Press-speaker of the President of Georgia Manana Manjagaladze during a traditional briefing, "Georgia Online" reports.

About 60 civil and non-governmental organizations which have been collecting signatures under the demand of restoration of the businessman's Georgian citizenship since November came out in Ivanishvili's defense.

On December, 29, Ivanishvili officially rejected citizenship of France and on December, 26, he forfeited his Russian citizenship. The businessman also appealed to the Georgian authorities asking to grant him Georgian citizenship.