The Justice Ministry of Ukraine has told lawyers of former Georgian President and Movement of New Forces Party leader in Ukraine Mikheil Saakashvili about the extension of the extradition check of their client at the request of Georgian law-enforcement agencies prior to the completion of court cases involving the decision to strip Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship and status in Ukraine.

"I recently received a response from Ukraine's Justice Ministry saying that the extradition check is extended for the period until court rulings involving the State Migration Service of Ukraine and the status of Saakashvili's citizenship are handed down. We hope that the state agencies will adhere to all time limits until these court cases end," Saakashvili's lawyer Ruslan Chernolutsky told journalists on Monday.

Chernolutsky said that on February 6, 2017, Kyiv's District Administration Court would hear one more suit case initiated by Saakashvili in which he requests recognition of the dereliction of duty by the State Migration Service in responding to requests to check the actions of the Kyiv regional office of the service. According to the complaint, the service refused to grant him the status of a person in need of additional defense.

Chernolutsky also said that on February 16, 2017, the Cassation Administrative Court in Ukraine's new Supreme Court would continue hearing Saakashvili's complaint against Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko about the illegality of the president's decision to strip Saakashvili of Ukrainian citizenship.

"We are hoping that while these legal cases are being heard in court, the decision on extradition will not be enacted, because if it happens so, it will be unlawful," the lawyer said.