In the reporting period 2013, the Office of Public Defender of Georgia studiedthe cases of violation of the right of freedom of movement, or on its basis, alleged violation of the right to respect for private and family life, towards the Georgian nationals and the foreign citizens.

The cases studied by the Office of Public Defender reveal that the Georgian authorities do not consider the contact of foreign nationals with the country while denying them the entrance to Georgia. The examined cases demonstrated that the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia repeatedly denied foreigners the entrance to Georgia the on the bases that their presence might pose a threat to public order and security, the protection of rights, legal interests and health of Georgian nationals as well as other residents of Georgia . It is remarkable that the foreigners were denied to enter the country while their families live in Georgia.As one of the case revealed the foreign national possessing temporary residence permit in Georgia, was refused to enter the territory of Georgia.

Despite the numerous requests, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia did not present to the Office of Public Defender information about legal or factual circumstance of entrance denial for foreign nationals to Georgia.

During the reporting period for2013, the Office of Public Defender studied the cases when Georgian citizens were restricted the right to leave the country without any explanation.

According to the case of Georgian citizen Saykhan Muzaev studied by the Office of Public Defender of Georgia, it was revealed that he tried to travel to England for several times in January and February 2014 and the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia did not allow him to pass the Tbilisi International Airport without explanation. As a result of examination of this case, the Public Defender of Georgia considered that was the unreasonable interference with the freedom of movement envisaged in the article 22 of the Constitution of Georgia, which caused the violation of citizen’s legal rights.

Public Defender of Georgia addressed the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia with the recommendation to ensure the protection of family unity principle according to the Law of Georgia on the “situation of foreigners and stateless persons” at the time of examination and determination of arrival of the foreign nationals and / or stateless persons to Georgia.

In addition, the Public Defender of Georgia called to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia to prevent the officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia from violation of the rights of Georgian nationals to leave the country guaranteed by the Constitution.

The above recommendation is included in Public Defender’s parliamentary report 2014 “on situation of Human Rights and Freedoms in Georgia for 2013”.