Opposition party MP Nika Melia charged with violence at Tbilisi rally
A member of the United National Movement Nika Melia has been summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office tomorrow. Photo: Parliament’s press office.
Tweet 
Share
A member of the United National Movement parliamentary opposition, MP Nika Melia has been charged with organising violence by a group, heading the group and participation in the violence during the June 20-21 rallies in Tbilisi, the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office says.
The Prosecutor’s Office has already appealed to the parliament to ask for Melia’s detention.
Giorgi Kakhiani, head of Parliament's Procedural Issues Committee, says that the MP immunity of Melia, which prohibits searching or detaining a member of parliament without the permit of the legislative body, might be suspended tomorrow.
The opposition say that rallies will continue until Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia is dismissed and all the people detained during the rallies are released. For now more than 50 remain in custody from the initially detained 305. Photo: Nino Alavidze/Agenda.ge.
An emergency bureau meeting is being held in parliament now regarding the issue.
If the charge is confirmed Melia faces six to nine years in prison.
The rally in Tbilisi on June 20 was sparked by the presence of Russian MPs in Georgia and an address of one of them from the seat of the Georgian parliamentary speaker, during the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy.
305 people were detained and 240 were injured during the rally.
The Georgian Dream ruling party and Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia said that the “destructive opposition” used the “justified and sincere protest” of the Georgian people to stage provocations and trigger the unrest.
The government vowed that all those causing the violence and confrontation would be held accountable.
The United National Movement and the European Georgia opposition have boycotted the plenary session in parliament earlier today, after the Georgian Dream ruling party declined to discuss a resolution text on the dismissal of Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia, drafted by European Georgia MPs.
Composed again largely of youth, the demonstrators gathered in front of the parliament of Georgia on the fifth consecutive day. Monday's peaceful demonstration ended at around 12 a.m. with the protesters marching around the parliament of Georgia holding hands and singing the national anthem. Calling everyone to rejoin them every day at 7 p.m. on Rustaveli Avenue in central Tbilisi, the organisers say their other demands still need to be fulfilled.
The European Union Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell said Ambassadors of EU members states welcome the Georgian Dream ruling party’s decision to conduct the 2020 parliamentary elections on the proportional electoral system alone.
Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia has requested parliament in an official letter to allow him to speak about the June 20-21 developments and rallies in Tbilisi at the parliament’s plenary session tomorrow, the Ministry of Internal Affairs says.
Georgian Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze says that the “destructive and irresponsible” calls and appeals by the opposition transformed “a peaceful and justified” rally in Tbilisi into unrest on June 20 and the opposition members carry responsibility for that, commenting on recent charges against United National Movement MP Nika Melia.
The Georgian Parliament’s Procedural and Legal Issues Committee has approved the suspension of MP immunity for opposition MP Nika Melia, giving a green light to the Chief Prosecutor’s Office to detain the legislator for possible incitement to violence during the June 20 rally in Tbilisi.
The Georgian parliament has voted to suspend MP immunity for United National Movement opposition MP Nika Melia, upholding yesterday's request from the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office yesterday to detain the legislator for possible incitement to violence during the June 20 rally in Tbilisi.
The United National Movement MP Nika Melia, who stands charged with incitement to violence during the June 20 rally in Tbilisi, has been released on 30,000 GEL [$10,000] bail.
Mukhran Pangani, who was detained and charged with violence during the June 20 rally in central Tbilisi, has been released on 2,000 GEL [$669] bail after confessing to the crime.
Former Prosecutor General of Georgia Zurab Adeishvili has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison in absentia, while MP of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party Nika Melia has been banned from taking public office for two years and three months in the high profile case of Cartu Bank, involving the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Former Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, who has been charged with several alleged offences in Georgia, says that the current Georgian government was on the verge of being overthrown in June 2019, when police used water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse a rally in central Tbilisi.
The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ruled legitimate the arrest and detention of opposition leader Nika Melia for incitement to violence during protests in Tbilisi back in June 2019.