Opposition leader Melia's detention was “criminal offense” by law enforcers - lawyer

The lawyer of Nika Melia, a key opposition leader from the Coalition for Change, has condemned his client’s detention as an unlawful and violent act, calling it a “criminal offense” carried out by Georgian law enforcement.

“Several police officers — including from the criminal police and patrol police — attacked Nika Melia, seized his belongings, and forcibly pushed him into a car before taking him to an unknown location,” lawyer Giorgi Kondakhishvili told reporters. “This cannot, under any circumstances, be linked to tomorrow’s court hearing or any ongoing case.”

Kondakhishvili said Melia had been on his way to participate in a podcast recording near Lisi Lake when his car was stopped. He cited recent communication with Melia’s driver and security personnel who confirmed the events.

“This is an illegal detention. It appears the government invented an administrative pretext to detain him today — possibly to avoid the public discomfort of seeing a judge order his arrest tomorrow,” the lawyer added.

Shortly after the incident, Melia was reportedly transferred to the Digomi detention facility.

Melia’s detention comes just one day before he was scheduled to appear in court in a case related to his refusal to comply with a parliamentary investigative commission led by the ruling Georgian Dream party. Prosecutors are expected to request pretrial detention, arguing Melia failed to pay bail imposed for skipping commission hearings.

The opposition and Melia’s supporters have denounced the case as politically motivated. His party has described today's detention as a “kidnapping,” noting that plainclothes officers seized phones, removed SIM cards, and transported Melia without a formal arrest warrant.