The former head of Ukraine's National Police, Khatia Dekanoidze told reporters in Tbilisi after Mikheil Saakashvili was convicted:
"I do not exclude Mikheil Saakashvili's extradition [to Georgia], because the administrative resources of the two countries are working together against one person -- against Mikheil Saakashvili."
Saakashvili's lawyer in Ukraine, Ruslan Chornolutskiy, told RFE/RL regarding his client's conviction in absentia:
"Mikheil Saakashvili has enough legal statuses that prevent his extradition by Ukrainian authorities. First of all, he is a suspect in a case launched due to the laws of Ukraine.... In accordance with the Ukrainian laws, a person who was a Ukrainian citizen and for the last several years resided in Ukraine cannot be extradited. That is what the law on foreigners and individuals without citizenship, as well as the international convention that Ukraine ratified say."