Opposition party sues parliament for dismissal of MP
Member of the United National Movement opposition party Nika Melia was dismissed on December 12. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
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The United National Movement opposition party has appealed the December 12 decision of the Georgian parliament to the Constitutional Court on dismissal of its MP Nika Melia.
The party says that the decision will also be appealed to the Court of Appeals.
The dismissal of Melia was unlawful, a political persecution and an unprecedented decision,” the party MP Roman Gotsiridze has stated earlier today.
Melia was dismissed following a recent verdict of a court in the high profile Cartu Bank case.
The case, dating back to 2012, concerns “the plans of the UNM government to deliberately bankrupt the bank founded by Ivanishvili and hamper his political intentions,” the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office says.
The ruling party has dismissed political grounds in Melia's case. Photo: parliament of Georgia press office.
88 MPs in the 150-member parliament voted for the decision on December 12 which immediately came into effect.
The opposition boycotted the vote.
- On December 2 former Prosecutor General of Georgia Zurab Adeishvili was sentenced to five years and three months in prison in absentia, while Melia was banned from taking public office for two years and three months in the case of Cartu Bank, involving the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Bidzina Ivanishvili.
- Melia will also have to pay a 25,000 GEL [8,389 USD] fine for his role in the case as the former head of the State Enforcement Bureau back in 2012, when Ivanishvili announced his political plans to defeat the nine-year-governance of the UNM.
- Melia is now on bail “for incitement to violence” during the June protests in Tbilisi.
The Georgian parliament has suspended the MP status of United National Movement opposition member Nika Melia following the recent verdict of a court in the high profile Cartu Bank case. 88 MPs in the 150-member parliament voted for the decision which has already come into effect.
The Georgian parliament's Procedural Issues Committee has approved the suspension of the MP status of United National Movement opposition member Nika Melia following the recent verdict of a court in the high profile Cartu Bank case.
Former Prosecutor General of Georgia Zurab Adeishvili has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison in absentia, while MP of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party Nika Melia has been banned from taking public office for two years and three months in the high profile case of Cartu Bank, involving the founder of the ruling Georgian Dream (GD) party Bidzina Ivanishvili.
The United National Movement MP Nika Melia, who stands charged with incitement to violence during the June 20 rally in Tbilisi, has been released on 30,000 GEL [$10,000] bail.
The Prosecutor’s Office says that they will appeal the verdict of Tbilisi City Court against former opposition MP Nika Melia in the high-profile Cartu Bank case.
The new chair of the United National Movement (UNM) opposition party Nika Melia may be sent to pretrial detention for refusing to pay 40,000 GEL bail, the Georgian Chief Prosecutor’s Office said earlier today.