Opposition MP Nika Melia dismissed
Melia was found guilty in a Cartu Bank case earlier this month. Photo: Nika Melia’s Facebook page.
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The Georgian parliament has suspended the MP status of United National Movement opposition member Nika Melia following the recent verdict of a court in the high profile Cartu Bank case.
88 MPs in the 150-member parliament voted for the decision which has already come into effect.
The opposition boycotted the voting.
On December 2 former Prosecutor General of Georgia Zurab Adeishvili was sentenced to five years and three months in prison in absentia, while Melia was banned from taking public office for two years and three months in the case of Cartu Bank, involving the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Bidzina Ivanishvili.
Melia will also have to pay a 25,000 GEL [8,389 USD] fine for his role in the case as the former head of the State Enforcement Bureau back in 2012, when Ivanishvili announced his political plans to defeat the nine-year-governance of the UNM.
The 2012 case concerns “the plans of the UNM government to deliberately bankrupt the bank founded by Ivanishvili and hamper his political intentions,” the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office says.
Melia is now on bail “for incitement to violence” during the June protests in Tbilisi.
The Georgian parliament's Procedural Issues Committee has approved the suspension of the MP status of United National Movement opposition member Nika Melia following the recent verdict of a court in the high profile Cartu Bank case.
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.
Opposition United National Movement party member Nika Melia, who is charged with incitement to violence during the recent Tbilisi protests, will have to wear an electronic bracelet to be monitored, as the Court of Appeals did not change the decision of Tbilisi City Court earlier today and accepted Melia’s release on bail.
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.
The United National Movement opposition party has appealed the December 12 decision of the Georgian parliament to the Constitutional Court on dismissal of its MP Nika Melia. The party says that the decision will also be appealed to the Court of Appeals.
The Prosecutor’s Office says that they will appeal the verdict of Tbilisi City Court against former opposition MP Nika Melia in the high-profile Cartu Bank case.