The court has allowed pardoned protester and Russian citizen Denis Kulanin to leave Georgia voluntarily within seven days, paving the way for his departure to a third safe country amid fears that he would be forcibly deported to Russia, where he would face a risk of mistreatment.
Kulanin, who was sentenced to two years in jail following his arrest in 2025 over damaging a police car during Tbilisi protests, was among the nine protesters pardoned by Georgian Dream-elected President Mikheil Kavelashvili late in August. Following the decision, Kulanin was immediately transferred to the Interior Ministry’s Migration Department temporary accommodation center, launching a deportation procedure.
While his lawyers hoped that the established official practice would allow Kulanin to leave for a third country voluntarily, with his friends buying a plane ticket to depart on September 1, reportedly to Armenia, the plans were delayed after the court ruled to keep him in custody “until the grounds for detention are eliminated or his deportation procedure is completed.”
Authorities were cited as saying that a separate hearing must first be held for the court to rule on his deportation before he can be allowed to leave voluntarily. Kulanin’s lawyers and supporters, however, feared that the government was preparing a ground to deport him to Russia, where he would face threats of torture and ill-treatment given the protester’s openly pro-Ukraine statements.
Rights Georgia, a human rights organization representing Kulanin’s interests, said on September 4 that the Tbilisi City Court judge Leila Poladashvili granted the Interior Ministry’s motion to deport the protester, but he was given seven days to leave the country’s territory voluntarily. The group said it would continue to represent Kulanin’s interests until his departure to a third, safe country.
“We hope that the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs will not obstruct the enforcement of this order and will ensure that Denis Kulanin is taken to the flight for which we will purchase a ticket,” his lawyer, Tsiala Ratiani, said in a Facebook post.
On September 1, international human rights group Amnesty International urged the Georgian authorities not to deport Kulanin to Russia, warning that his public opposition to Russia’s war against Ukraine and support for late Russian opposition politician Aleksei Navalny could expose him to prosecution and imprisonment.
“The Georgian authorities must also ensure that Denis Kulanin can effectively seek international protection, including to leave voluntarily for a safe third country,” Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Deputy Director, said.
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