Non-governmental organization the “Young Barristers” address the Parliament of Georgia on behalf of amendments in the statute of “Georgian Citizenship” and ask to reject discussion of the bill, according to which citizens of foreign countries who received a Georgian citizenship since January 1^st 2013 face deprivation of citizenship.

According to the official statistics received from the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, following number of people received Georgian citizenship in the corresponding years:

1. From November 23^rd 2003 to October 27 2013, 50134 foreign citizens adopted a Georgian citizenship.
2. From January 1^st 2013 to October 27^th  2013, 6649 foreign citizens adopted a Georgian citizenship.
3. From October 27^th 2013 to January 31st  2014, 3503 foreign citizens adopted a Georgian citizenship.

According to the statement of lawyer of  the “Young Barristers”  - Emil Kurbanov, retroaction of the above mentioned status cannot be extended to the citizens, who adopted the Georgian citizenship since January 1^st 2013. If cases of these citizens are reviewd and any of them is deprived of the citizenship, it will cause a breach of the second paragraph of article XIII of the Constitution of Georgia, according to which deprivation of citizenship is forbidden.

In case the statute is amended by the Parliament, a few negative conditions will occur:

1. A possible breach of Constitution of Georgia, among them a breach of forth paragraph of article XXXIV of statute on “Georgian citizenship”, which presents the only legitimate way of acquiring a Georgian citizenship.
2. A fallacious practice may be formed due to a hard approach to the institute of Georgian citizenship, when citizenship regulations will be conducted according to political ideologies.

The “Young Barristers” address the legislative branch of Georgia with recommendations and in the process of discussing the bill, asks the Parliament to get engaged in more dialogues with the non-governmental sector. The state must pay attention to the high judicial interest, according to which rights of honest citizens, who adopted a Georgian citizenship according to the law,  may be breached.

According to the evaluations of the organization, Georgian citizens have legal trust towards the state, according to the current situation on the other hand it is clear that responsibility is imposed on not the decision makers, but on the citizens, who adopted the Georgian citizenship according to the law. It is also important to pay attention to the period, on which the retroaction is extended to.

It is obscure, why was this period chosen, while statistically same amount of people adopted a Georgian citizenship from November 2003 to January 1^st 2013.

According to official information, from October 27^th 2013 to January 31st  2014, 3503 foreign citizens adopted a Georgian citizenship. This is a 3 month period of Giorgi Margvelashvili prezidentship. If we take this fact into consideration, then it is more obscure why the period from January 1^st 2013 to October 27^th has been chosen.