The Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine (HACU) has not withdrawn from consideration a lawsuit filed by former Georgian president and leader of the Movement of New Forces Party Mikheil Saakashvili against Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko due to the dismissal of a judge, according to the court's official website.

"The lawsuit was distributed by the automated record keeping system to reporting judge Tetiana Shypulina.... The case was scheduled for consideration on November 22, 2017... Shypulina was appointed a judge of the Supreme Court to the Cassation Administrative Court under a presidential decree of November 10, 2017, No. 357/2017, regarding the appointment of judges of the Supreme Court. On November 14, 2017, Shypulina was expelled from the HACU, and on November 15, she was included in the staff of the new Supreme Court," the statement reads.

"Thus, Judge Shypulina does not have the authority to consider administrative cases at the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine. In this regard, the case on the lawsuit of Mikheil Saakashvili against the president of Ukraine regarding on challenging the decree on the termination of Ukrainian citizenship has been withdrawn from consideration," the court said.

At the same time, it noted that "the lawsuit will be re-distributed among HACU judges who are authorized to carry out proceedings at the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine."

As reported, in July 2017, Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili, who was abroad at that time, of his Ukrainian citizenship. On September 10, Saakashvili broke through the Polish-Ukrainian border, surrounded by his supporters. On October 25, Saakashvili stated that he had received documents from the Presidential Administration of Ukraine on depriving him of his citizenship and planned to appeal against this in court.

On November 3, the HACU launched proceedings on Saakashvili's lawsuit against Poroshenko on recognizing as unlawful and canceling the decree to strip Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship. The court session was scheduled for November 22.

On November 20, Saakashvili's lawyer, Ruslan Chornolutsky, claimed illegal interference in the system of distribution of judges when appointing a panel of the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine to consider his client's lawsuit. The court denied this information, saying that "there was and can be no interference with the automated system for distributing HACU cases."