NICOLA Sturgeon has defended the right of an orphaned teenager who has lived in Scotland for a decade to remain in the country after deportation fears.

Giorgi Kakava, 13, was aged just three when he fled to Scotland from Georgia with his mother Sopio Baikhadze, who died in 2018.

He was granted permission to stay in the UK along with his grandmother and legal guardian, Ketino Baikhadze, in July 2018 after the Church of Scotland launched a campaign. However, their residence permits expired in December.

Giorgi’s plight was raised with the First Minister in Holyrood by his Glasgow MSP Bob Doris – who urged the Home Office to move swiftly to remove uncertainty surrounding the teenager’s immigration status.

Doris said: “It is absolutely disgraceful that that Tories are presiding over a system which would even consider deporting a 13-year-old who knows nothing other than living in Scotland.

“This whole case highlights a systemic failure of how the UK applies immigration rules – it’s now time for the Home Office to do the right thing and support Giorgi, a vulnerable young asylum seeker who calls Glasgow his home.

“If the UK Government don’t want to support vulnerable young people, we have a government in Scotland which does.

“The immediate priority is of course to ensure Giorgi and his gran are granted permanent residency as soon as possible. However I have no doubt that as an independent country, we can end the Tories' hostile environment once and for all.

"Full powers over our immigration system will allow us to handle cases like this in a way that benefits our communities, and supports all those who want to make Scotland their home.”

READ MORE: Home Office urged to show 'common sense' and not deport boy, 13, from Scotland

The Home Office has said it is “wrong” to say either Giorgi or his grandmother is at risk of deportation, adding there is an outstanding application which is being processed.

Sturgeon said: “I hope everybody in this chamber will agree, Giorgi is Scottish.

“This is his home and he should get to stay here for as long as he wants to be here with his grandmother.”

The First Minister also attacked the UK Government’s stance on immigration, claiming it sees “family migration as some kind of burden on society”.

She added: “We want to see a very different approach, we’ve set out our own policies for a much more compassionate and flexible approach to cases, particularly cases involving young people.

“Children who were either born in Scotland or have spent their formative years here should have the opportunity to stay here with their adult guardians.

“I think that’s a fundamental, simple principle and it’s a principle based on what is right, but it’s also in our interests.

“We are a country that needs to encourage people to come here and make a contribution to our society and our economy, so we should be making it easier for people like Giorgi to stay here, not more difficult.”

The First Minister also said that if Scotland was in charge of its own immigration policy, it would be “compassionate” and “humane”, adding: “That is not just right in terms of the value that underpin it, but are actually in the best interests of our economy and society as well.”

In 2018, Doris wrote to then Home Secretary Sajid Javid asking him to grant Giorgi Kavaka permanent citizenship in the UK - but received an email which said the Home Office did not answer questions from MSPs.

Reverend Brian Casey, minister of Springburn Parish Church in Glasgow, said it is a “scandal and a moral outrage” that Giorgi is still living in uncertainty and faces being deported to Georgia.

An immigration lawyer is preparing a new residence application for both Giorgi and his 62-year-old grandmother, and more than 90,000 people have signed a petition calling for the teenager to be allowed to stay in Glasgow.

Casey said: “This is a human rights issue and I hope people will sign the petition and join me in urging Home Secretary Priti Patel to look at this case with compassion, decency and common sense.

“After Giorgi’s mother died, the local community rallied around him and the outpouring of love and concern was overwhelming.

“Despite having a very tough start to life, he has grown into a fine young man and I have been so inspired by his progress.

“He loves football, boxing and is good at maths and science.

“Giorgi is a delight to be around and I fully believe that if we support him now, he will become an asset to our country in the future.”

The National:

The boy’s mother (above, with Giorgi) fled Georgia after she discovered his father – who later died – owed money to gangsters there and she feared her son’s life was at risk.

The minister said her dying wish was that Giorgi grew up as a Scottish boy in a safe and secure environment.

Casey and Father John McGrath, of St Aloysius Church, conducted a Georgian style funeral for Giorgi’s mother at Springburn Parish Church.

Her body was repatriated to Georgia for burial and a memorial tree was planted in the church garden.

Bruce Adamson, Scotland’s Children and Young People’s Commissioner, said: “Before decisions are made about a child’s immigration and asylum status, their human rights and best interests must be at the heart of decision making.

“Decisions should take into account the impact on the full range of the child’s human rights, including rights to an education, to respect for private and family life, and to mental health, as well as their ability to adjust to life in what is, to them, a foreign country.

“Where a child has spent the majority of their childhood in Scotland, it is unlikely to be in their best interests to return them to a country they have limited or no memory of.”

Dr Tracy Kirk, a children’s rights expert at Glasgow Caledonian University, said: “Scotland has ambitions to be the best place in the world to grow up.

“Giorgi has enjoyed growing up here and wants to make this his permanent home.

“I really do hope that his human rights are central to the decision-making process which will determine his future.

“Giorgi is an asset to his community and to our country.”