High Council of Justice: Melia Verdict Justified

The High Council of Justice (HCoJ) of Georgia, the body overseeing the judiciary, said today that the controversial Court ruling to send the United National Movement’s Chair Nika Melia to pretrial detention was justified.

The HCoJ asserted Georgia’s Criminal Procedure Code left no options but to replace bail with detention, as the UNM Chair refused to post the increased amount, imposed on him after he publicly removed a monitoring bracelet last year.

The HCoJ also came to defend Judge Nino Chakhnashvili, who faced widespread opposition criticism for allegedly being involved in “politically motivated cases,” including Melia verdict. The Council said the Judge faced a campaign of false accusations and personal insults.

Georgian CSOs, including key judiciary watchdogs, instead said that Melia should be allowed to exhaust “all the remedies” to appeal the ruling. In yesterday’s joint statement, the third sector argued the Court of Appeals must challenge the constitutionality of the legal norm, which bars Melia from appealing the detention before a final decision on the case.

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