“Banning parties is liberation from confinement and partisan captivity. Many groups of various sizes will exist, coordinating with each other on key issues,” writes Nika Melia, leader of the Ahali party, in a letter sent from prison.

According to him, when the time for party politics returns, everyone can find each other according to their ideological or practical values.

“On May 29, I left my home on Belinsky Street with four accompanying people, five of us in total. We left in two cars, both equipped with four video cameras. We were heading towards the television station to participate in a programme at 8:30 p.m.

At 8:50 p.m., near Lisi Lake, up to 40 dragoons of various sizes and shapes, some slender, others built like bison, tumbled out of vehicles, almost all bellowing loudly. They destroyed all four cameras and abducted me along with them. They took me away in a minibus, with no explanation whatsoever: why, for what purpose, and so on. They brought me to Dighomi police station and shoved me into some room on the fifth floor.

The next day, in the morning, I found myself involuntarily in the court building, in the wooden dock in the courtroom.

In the courtroom, I encountered Shvangiradze, dressed in black, with an extremely unintellectual demeanour, a cold gaze, a judge who seems to exist without blood circulation, a plastic mannequin. Shvangiradze showed not the slightest interest in how I ended up in the dock, not even the tiniest curiosity about what had happened during the night. It was as though you were a voluntary member of a group visiting him at work, on an educational excursion or outing.

In a word, I saw the solution to restoring and protecting my battered dignity in the power of water…

Two weeks ago, somehow, they named the reason for the abduction, and this turned out to be my own right hand’s middle finger, which was shown to a policeman! That is, supposedly from a moving car, I somehow managed to lower the window and raise my middle finger. According to their version, this finger was undoubtedly the middle one and in no case the index finger!

I wanted to give you a detailed explanation of the grounds for the one-and-a-half-year imprisonment in this case.

The day before yesterday, I was allowed to speak, but I would have written this anyway: it’s paradoxical, but banning parties is also a liberation from confinement and partisan captivity. If the regime deserves thanks for anything, it’s this! The time of predecessors has come; the time of dissidence.

Today, a cultured individual no longer concerns themselves with parties or factions. Instead, numerous groups of varying sizes coexist, working together on vital issues. It is possible to present a unified stance, a single will, and a shared momentum on important matters.

When the time for party politics comes again, then let everyone find each other according to their ideological or practical values, electoral or personal values! They’ve piled up stones, they’ll be buried under boulders! See you!” writes Nika Melia.

Earlier today, the Tbilisi City Court found Nika Melia, leader of the Coalition for Change, guilty of throwing water at a judge.

Judge Elene Goguadze sentenced him to one year and six months in prison. According to the court’s ruling, the sentence will commence on 20 June 2025.

For context, Nika Melia was administratively detained by police on May 29. The following day, his trial took place regarding his failure to appear before the temporary investigative commission of the parliament, for which he was sentenced to imprisonment as a preventive measure. During his speech at the trial, Melia threw water at the judge.