Ruling party MP hits back at UNM opposition party head for critical comments
Gia Tsagareishvili, a ruling Georgian Dream party MP, on Friday called the head of the United National Movement opposition party Nika Melia “a criminal with anti-state goals”. Photo: Parliament of Georgia press office
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Gia Tsagareishvili, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Monday hit back at the Chair of the United National Movement opposition party, Nika Melia, for the latter’s critical comments on GD on Thursday that accused the party of “collaborationism with the enemy” and called ruling party representatives “cannons” for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Dismissing the allegations, Tsagareishvili raised counter accusations against Melia, accusing the opposition politician of “anti-state activities” and reminding him of his criminal records.
The Chair of the main opposition party in Georgia has been convicted twice. Is there any precedent in any civilised country for an individual who has been convicted twice and is running a party?”, Tsagareishvili asked.
In his social media post, Melia had accused the Government and GD founder Bidzina Ivanishvili of “deliberate attacks” against the United States Ambassador to Georgia Kelly Degnan “in an attempt to damage the US-Georgia strategic partnership and harm the country’s European integration process to benefit Russian goals”.
Elected as the Chair of the UNM in December 2020, Melia was convicted for his refusal to post a bail last year in a court case over the dispersal of the June 2019 opposition rally, and was banned from taking public office for two years and three months following the high-profile case of Cartu Bank in 2019, which involved Ivanishvili.
The leader of the United National Movement opposition party (UNM) Nika Melia was refused bail earlier today. The Judge of Tbilisi City Court Nino Chakhnashvili dismissed Melia from the courtroom because Melia called her ‘a slave’ (of the current government). The opposition parties which have been demanding Melia’s release for about two months have stated earlier today that the government ‘is not willing to ease the current political tension’ and that Melia ‘remains a political prisoner.’
Former opposition MP and the head of the United National Movement opposition party Nika Melia has been arrested by police earlier today for refusal to post bail shortly after the parliament approved Irakli Garibashvili prime minister and his cabinet late yesterday. Melia was arrested in his office in the UNM headquarters in Tbilisi by special unit servicemen. Police allegedly used pepper spray in the room.
Nika Melia will be the next chair of the United National Movement (UNM) based on the results of the opposition party polls. The UNM launched an online poll on December 21 following Grigol Vashadze’s resignation.
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.
Khatuna Samnidze, an opposition MP and the Chair of the Republican Party, on Thursday said it was “wrong” on the part of a section of the opposition to reject election campaigning by claiming the Georgian Dream Government would not let itself be replaced through voting.