Mikheil Saakashvili deported from Ukraine

Mikheil Saakashvili, former president of Georgia, has been deported from Ukraine to Poland. He lost his Georgian citizenship when he became a citizen of Ukraine in 2015, and was stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship by Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko in July last year.

Ukraine twice turned down extradition requests for Mr Saakashvili from Georgia, but deported him after he was convicted in a Ukrainian court last September of illegally entering the country and another court declined to grant him refugee status at the start of the year. His lawyer has described his deportation as a kidnapping, and Mr Saakashvili has claimed his treatment is politically motivated in light of his activism in the country. Ukraine has denied this charge.