It took a few hundred heavily helmeted and equipped police officers to arrest Nikanor Mélia, the leader of Georgia's main opposition party, on Tuesday, February 2.
From 7 a.m., these members of the police surrounded the headquarters of the United National Movement, while other police officers stormed the roof using fire ladders.
Two hours later, Mélia was in their hands, after resistance from her relatives, holed up inside her office, the door of which they had blocked with furniture.
A few hours later, Irakli Garibachvili, elected prime minister the day before, justified the assault with a lapidary: "
Melia is a criminal
".
“
It is a violation of the presumption of innocence, while the case is still under examination.
Deprivation of liberty is an extreme measure, knowing that Mélia libre does not represent any danger.
This indicates that the motivations are political
”, comments Guiorgui Gogia, the head of the South Caucasus office of the NGO.
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