Georgian opposition leader Nika Melia sentenced to additional 1.5 years for throwing water at judge
A Georgian court has sentenced the co-leader of the opposition Ahali party, Nika Melia, to one-and-a-half years in prison for throwing water towards a judge during a court session where he stood trial. Melia is already serving an eight-month sentence for boycotting a parliamentary commission created to investigate the opposition, and is also facing sabotage charges.
Judge Elene Goguadze sentenced Melia on charges of obstructing a judge on Wednesday, ruling that his sentence would be listed as beginning from 20 June, as he was already in detention at the time.
According to Publika, Goguadze decided to sentence Melia to prison as he was already convicted of failing to appear before the anti-opposition parliamentary commission.
In late May, when he was ordered into pre-trial detention after refusing to post bail for not appearing before the commission, Melia threw water towards Judge Irakli Shvangiradze. The opposition figure had demanded that Shvangiradze address what he described as his ‘abduction’ by a group of police officers the night before his session.
Mikheil Gvadzabia
‘You are part of a criminal chain, unwilling even to ask how I ended up here, who abducted me, and why’, Melia said to Shvangiradze before reaching out from the defendant’s box and throwing water from a bottle at the judge.
It is unclear whether the water had reached the judge.
Melia was sentenced to eight months in prison in late June.
The parliamentary commission Melia and several other opposition leaders were detained for boycotting was initially created to investigate crimes allegedly committed by the formerly ruling United National Movement’s (UNM) during its time in power. Its mandate was later expanded to include the vast majority of pro-Western opposition groups in the country, which the ruling Georgian Dream party dubs ‘satellites’ of the UNM.
The commission produced a 470-page report which it submitted as evidence to the Constitutional Court in a bid to ban Georgia’s opposition groups.
Georgian Dream officially filed a case against the UNM, Ahali, and Lelo parties on 30 October.
In early November, the Georgian authorities brought new charges against almost all major opposition leaders, including attempting to carry out a coup, sabotage, and unlawful coordination with foreign countries. Melia was charged with sabotage, which carries a prison sentence of two to four years in prison.
OC Media
