On November 15, 2017, the Public Defender addressed the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia with a proposal to annul the decision on refusing 7 foreigners to enter Georgia and to change the Ministry’s established practice of the application of the norm of the law.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia refused 7 foreign citizens to enter Georgia on grounds of "other cases envisaged by the legislation of Georgia". In order to study the issue, the Public Defender's Office requested full information from the Ministry about which particular cases served as grounds for the refusal in each case and which legal acts referred to "other cases envisaged by the legislation of Georgia". However, the state agency did not provide the requested information or documentation.

As a result of studying the issue, the Public Defender considered that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia uses the ground of "other cases envisaged by the legislation of Georgia" as an independent, self-sufficient ground for refusing foreign citizens to enter Georgia and does not seek any additional restrictive case specified in the law. This approach contradicts the law, as the norm in question is of indicative nature. "Other cases envisaged by the legislation" does not provide for the possibility of using it without the relevant regulation and, therefore, it alone cannot generate legal consequences.

Based on the above, the decisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia on refusing the foreign citizens to enter Georgia in the mentioned cases substantially contradict the law. Therefore, the Public Defender requests the invalidation of the relevant legal acts. In addition, the Public Defender requests the Ministry to use the abovementioned ground only by referring to the specific provision of the relevant legal act in similar cases, in order to prevent violation of human rights.