Foreign national detained for expulsion from Georgia

Officers of the Georgian Interior Ministry’s Migration Department have detained a foreign citizen who had a prior criminal record and was serving a suspended sentence, for the purpose of expulsion from Georgia.

The Ministry on Sunday said recent amendments to the Law of Georgia on the Legal Status of Aliens and Stateless Persons have refined the mechanisms for deporting both legally and illegally residing foreign nationals, allowing for their removal from the country when there is a legal basis to do so.

Authorities said the detained individual was recently seen in a viral video recorded near Tbilisi’s Marjanishvili metro station in the Georgian capital city, where he was acting aggressively and disturbing public order.

For that incident, the individual was previously apprehended by the Old Tbilisi Division of the Tbilisi Police Department for petty hooliganism and disobedience to a lawful order of a law enforcement officer. The Tbilisi City Court fined him ₾4,000 ($1,478).

Following the court’s ruling, the Migration Department initiated deportation procedures. The Ministry said the individual had now been expelled from Georgia and banned from re-entering the country.