Nika Meliya refuses to comply with court's ban on leaving house

On October 10, in Tbilisi, the court upheld all restrictions imposed on opposition MP Nika Meliya, including a ban on uncontrolled leaving of an apartment. Nika Meliya said that he would no longer sit at home and continue carrying out his political activities.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 27, the Tbilisi City Court released on bail Nika Meliya, who was accused of organizing group violence at a protest action in Tbilisi. In September, Nika Meliya violated the terms of the pre-trial restriction measure and took part in a political talk show on a local TV Channel, claimed the Georgian Prosecutor's Office. Prosecutors threaten to arrest Nika Meliya if he commits a similar violation again.

On October 10, the Tbilisi City Court dismissed a motion filed by an advocate of MP Nika Meliya to cancel the pre-trial restriction measure and release him under personal guarantee of six MPs from the "United National Movement" (UNM) Party.

Judge Giorgi Keratishvili has explained that the risks associated with the Nika Meliya's release still remain. According to the judge, the defendant failed to observe order at a court hearing and did not obey the judge, who was urging him to calm down.

Defendant Nika Meliya himself did not attend the trial, since he was expelled from the courtroom. The judge made such a decision after the MP entered into a dispute with him and stated that the judge was making decisions "by order from above."

Nika Meliya told reporters that he did not intend to stay at home anymore and that he would continue carrying out his political activities, like earlier. "I'm no longer going to limit myself. I will carry out my political activities, my activities of an MP, like I did that earlier," said Nika Meliya as quoted by the "Sputnik-Georgia".

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 11, 2019 at 11:26 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.