UNM head Melia: we must continue daily protests until regime is overthrown, freedom prevails
Head of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party Nika Melia also noted that the GD ‘only thinks about how to oppress and suppress the voice of the Georgian people.’ Photo: Nika Melia/Facebook.
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Head of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party Nika Melia says protest rallies should be on-going until the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party is overthrown and former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili released.
Tbilisi City Court is reviewing the case of the illegal dispersal of an opposition rally in central Tbilisi on November 7, 2007 in which Saakashvili is charged with abuse of authority.
Melia called the trial hearings against the ex-president ‘historical injustice,’ noting that it should end ‘very soon.’
Today, not only Mikheil Saakashvili is in captivity, I think the conscience, honour, self-respect and dignity of this state are also in captivity and all these should be liberated,” Melia said.
He also noted that the GD ‘only thinks about how to oppress and suppress the voice of the Georgian people.’
Saakashvili’s supporters and opposition leaders have gathered outside the court building earlier today protesting Saakashvili's trial, as a result of which a total of 15 people were arrested by police officers on the spot including opposition leader Gigi Ugulava. Photo: IPN.
The former president, who is serving a sentence for abuse of authority, considers himself a political prisoner and is currently undergoing treatment at Gori military hospital after a 50-day hunger strike which he called off on November 19.
This is the first time for the former president to attend his trial. He was denied attendance at three previous trials by the Georgian Special Penitentiary Service due to the opposition’s alleged plan to cause unrest and the ex-president's health.
Saakashvili was sentenced to six years imprisonment for abuse of power in two cases in absentia in 2018, along with several other offences, including illegal seizure of property, embezzlement, illegal rally dispersal, and illegal border crossing.
US Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan has expressed the hope that former president Mikheil Saakashvili’s supporters ‘will act responsibly’ during his trial, urging that the protest should be peaceful.
Fifteen opposition activists, including opposition leader Gigi Ugulava, were arrested at a rally near Tbilisi City Court for disobeying police orders earlier today during a trial concerning former president Mikheil Saakashvili. Saakashvili was allowed to attend the hearing in person, which concerns illegal dispersal of an opposition rally back in 2007, for the first time since his arrest in Tbilisi on October 1. Before the hearing took place, Saakashvili said that he distrusts the Georgian court, noting that he ‘would have used the opportunity’ to address the public.
Former president of Georgia Mikheil Saakashvili has already been taken to Tbilisi City Court to attend a trial hearing concerning the illegal dispersal of an opposition rally in central Tbilisi on November 7, 2007 in which Saakashvili is charged with the abuse of power, IPN says. Neither journalists, nor opposition activists are allowed into the court’s yard. The law enforcement are present at the scene to ensure safety.
Lawyers of former president Mikheil Saakashvili have called on the government to ensure Saakashvili’s presence at a trial hearing in a case concerning him on Monday despite the opposition’s plans to hold a rally at Tbilisi City Court.
Opposition leader Gigi Ugulava, who was arrested on November 29 near Tbilisi City Court while protesting the former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili’s trial, has been released earlier today and fined 3,000 GEL (about $962/€846).
Georgia’s former president Mikheil Saakashvili is attending a trial hearing today in Tbilisi City Court which concerns the embezzlement of 8,837,461 GEL in state funds for personal purposes while in office.
Georgia's former president Mikheil Saakashvili says that ‘national reconciliation,’ referring to making peace between the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party and his United National Movement, ‘is the best outcome for everyone.’