The head of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party Nika Melia was detained in Tbilisi. This is reported by the Rustavi 2 TV channel.
As it became known, special forces detained Melia at the party’s office, using tear gas during the operation. According to the Georgian First Channel, more than ten people, including opposition leader Irakli Nadiradze, were detained together with the politician for resisting the police, RIA Novosti reports.
On Wednesday, February 17, the Tbilisi City Court arrested him in absentia in the 2019 riot case. After that, supporters of all opposition forces in the country came to the UNM office. They were on duty there all night, promising that they would not let Melia be arrested. The next day, Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia resigned. He disagreed with the decision to imprison Melia.
The criminal case against Nika Melia was initiated in June 2019. He is accused of organizing and participating in the June 2019 riots that ended in an attempt to storm parliament.
On June 20 and 21, 2019, a session of the General Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy was held in the Georgian parliament. According to the approved protocol, the chair of the speaker was taken by the President of the Assembly, State Duma Deputy Sergei Gavrilov. The opposition, outraged by this, disrupted the event and took people to the protest action. During the riots, 240 people were injured, more than 300 were detained.
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