On October 5, the Parliament of Georgia, with 79 votes in favor, suspended – for the second time – the parliamentary mandate of the United National Movement chair and Tbilisi Mayoral hopeful Nika Melia. The request came from Melia himself earlier this summer.
The UNM chair decided to leave the parliament after the ruling Georgian Dream party withdrew from the EU-brokered April 19 deal. In his announcement on July 29, Melia said he wanted to focus on his mayoral bid for Tbilisi. Melia submitted his official request for termination on August 3.
The Georgian Dream parliamentary majority terminated Melia’s mandate for the first time, following the request of the Prosecutors Office, in December 2019, after Tbilisi City Court found him guilty of attempting to force the Cartu Bank into bankruptcy in 2013.
In addition, in February 2021, the legislative body stripped Melia of his parliamentary immunity after he refused to pay increased bail for removing a monitoring bracelet during an opposition rally in November 2020. His charges pertained to the prosecution case over inciting and heading mass violence on the night of 20-21 June 2019 outside the Parliament. The previous convocation of the Parliament also suspended Melia’s immunity in June 2019 over the same case.
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