Dreaming of the future: Ivanishvili to present his new movement

Georgian Dream, a new public movement chaired by businessman Bidzina Ivanishvili, will be officially presented to the public on November 25, but meanwhile the NGO Protect Life started gathering signatures for restoring Georgian citizenship for the businessman. Along with other organizations, the NGO plans to travel to different parts of Georgia to gather supporters of their initiative.

As the lawyer Gela Nikolaishvili stated, a letter addressed to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili seeks to restore Georgian citizenship to Bidzina Ivanishvili and his wife Ekaterine Khvedelidze, who were deprived of their citizenship. Nikolaishvili emphasized the illegality of depriving a person's citizenship which--according to the lawyer—is against democratic values.

Eka Beselia, Ivanishvili’s lawyer, encouraged the Georgian courts to “overcome political pressure” and abolish the “illegal decision”. Beselia explained that when the Georgian President gave citizenship to Ivanishvili’s wife Ekaterine Khvedelidze, she was already a Russian and French citizen, but Saakashvili still honored her with triple citizenship.

Analyst Gia Khukhashvili worried that the Georgian passport has become the main weapon of political pursuit in Georgia. In a statement released by Khukhashvili he emphasized that citizenship is not only an empty sheet of paper but the patriotism and struggle for the country’s better future.