The Georgian opposition leader Nika Melia was arrested on Thursday. He is the second politician to be arrested in a week. Melia allegedly insulted a police officer and must appear in court.
Melia leads the Coalition for Change, the largest opposition party in Georgia. He was arrested for allegedly misbehaving towards a police officer, according to news agency Reuters. According to Georgian media, it concerns “verbal violence or offensive acts against a law enforcement officer on duty.”
It is the second arrest of an opposition leader in just over a week. Last week, Zurab Japaridze was arrested. Japaridze is also a leader of the Coalition for Change. He was placed in pre-trial detention indefinitely because he refuses to cooperate with a parliamentary investigation into alleged crimes under the rule of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who led Georgia from 2004 to 2013 and is also imprisoned.
The Coalition for Change is fighting against Georgian Dream (GD). Reuters speaks of an “approach in which figures are convicted who denounce current government policy.” Previously, Georgia was one of the most pro-Western and democratic states of the former Soviet Union.
But since GD won the elections in October, a pro-Russian wind has been blowing in the country. According to many, the election result was not correct. For example, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) stated that voters may have been intimidated and pressured. Now politicians are also talking about election fraud. The European Council has therefore called for an investigation into the elections.
The arrests and the election result led to huge protests. Since the end of November, demonstrators have been gathering every day on the main street of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia.