Advocate and Georgian MIA argue about circumstances of Nika Meliya’s detention

Nika Meliya, the leader of the oppositional “Coalition for Change”, was detained administratively for insulting a policeman, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) has reported. In his turn, Mr Meliya’s advocate asserts that his client’s detention has to do with the intention to ensure his presence at the trial on failure to comply with the demands of the parliamentary temporary investigating commission.

“Nika Meliya was detained (on May 29) under Article 173 of the Georgian Code of Administrative Offenses, which involves verbal abuse of a law enforcer or other offensive actions committed in the performance of one’s official duties or related thereto,” the Georgian MIA has stated, as quoted by the “News-Georgia” Agency, which has that the politician will appear in court within the time frame established by the law.

Nika Meliya was detained on his way to record a podcast, his advocate, Giorgi Kondakhashvili, has explained. In his opinion, Meliya was detained on a fictitious administrative charge, possibly to ensure his presence at the trial for failure to comply with the demands of the parliamentary temporary investigating commission.

“He was (stopped) by a patrol police crew, and then, without any explanations, several policemen, including criminal police ones, forcibly detained him and took him away to some unknown place. In fact, he was kidnapped,” Giorgi Kondakhashvili said in his comment to the “Pirveli” TV Channel.

Meliya is under investigation into a criminal case for his refusal to testify before the parliamentary commission investigating the rule of President Mikheil Saakashvili. The court had ordered him to pay bail in the amount of 50,000 laris (about 18.300 US dollars). Meliya said that he would not pay the sum on principle – he treats the above commission and the Parliament convened after the disputable elections in the fall of 2024 as illegitimate.

Nika Meliya was charged under Article 349 of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which provides for a fine or freedom deprivation for up to one year with a further ban on the right to hold office or engage in activities for up to three years.

This was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 30, 2025 at 10:33 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.