Opposition leader Melia faces new charges amid pretrial detention, lawyer calls allegations ‘absurd’

Nika Melia, co-chair of the Ahali party and a leader of the opposition Coalition for Change, remains in pretrial detention at Rustavi’s 12th Penitentiary Institution following a series of escalating legal confrontations with the ruling Georgian Dream party.

His lawyer, Beka Kvinikadze, who visited him recently, dismissed the latest criminal charge as baseless. According to Kvinikadze, Melia was unfazed by what he saw as politically motivated accusations.

“Nika smiled at another absurd charge. To tell the truth, he doesn't care how many absurd charges the regime will bring against him,” the lawyer said, adding that Melia still lacks basic prison privileges such as a card to purchase items, including a television.

The most recent charge against Melia involves contempt of court, after he splashed water at Judge Irakli Shvangiradze during a tense hearing. The act followed Melia’s outburst over his arrest, which he described as an “abduction” carried out by alleged plainclothes officers the night before his scheduled court appearance. The Interior Ministry claimed the arrest was due to an administrative offense, but opposition leaders have widely disputed this narrative.

Melia’s pretrial detention was ordered on May 30, after he refused to pay bail linked to his defiance of a summons from the Georgian Dream-controlled parliamentary commission investigating alleged abuses by former UNM officials.

The opposition continues to reject the legitimacy of the current parliament, citing alleged election fraud in the October 2024 elections and refusing to engage with what they describe as a one-party regime.