Kulanin, a Russian citizen pardoned by President Kavelashvili last week after 17 months in custody over the spring 2025 protests, was told on Monday by his case manager that he could not depart in the direction he had chosen because a decision on his expulsion was still pending. On Tuesday the department went to court for that decision, and asked for Russia.
The petition is the turning point in a story that began as clemency.
His lawyer, Daria Samodurova, put the risk in one sentence: «Существует высокая угроза того, что Дениса собираются выслать именно в Россию». She added that Georgian law allows the authorities to withhold the period for voluntary departure in some expulsion cases, which is the mechanism by which a man with a valid passport and a paid ticket can be put on a flight he did not choose.
CAW reported on Tuesday that the Sunday ruling had given the department up to 3 months to hold him while the paperwork ran. The paperwork now runs toward Moscow. Kulanin worked as a volunteer for Navalny's structures before he moved to Georgia, which is the detail his supporters cite when they say what deportation would mean.
The petition is the turning point in a story that began as clemency. A pardon that ends in a handover to the country the pardoned man fled would be a decision of the Georgian state; the court pardoned no one and ruled only on a route. The hearing date had not surfaced by print.