Tbilisi City Court has postponed the trial of UNM Chairman Nika Melia till May 13. The defence has filed the motion on postponement at today’s sitting.

According to Melia’s lawyer Giorgi Kondakhashvili, as amnesty law was initiated, Melia’s trial should be postponed until a political decision is made. The lawyer claimed that he had not prepared an introductory speech. The judge satisfied the motion due to that reason.

The defendant did not attend the hearing since the judge expelled him from the courtroom at the previous hearing.

Zaal Udumashvili said before the trial that he did not have any positive expectations from the process. “I do not have any good expectations from the current process. This process will be as formal as we have seen so far. The judge will follow the procedural norms. A political decision is needed to release Nika Melia”, Udumashvili said.

The Georgian political parties signed A way ahead for Georgia, a compromise document submitted to the parties by the European Council President Charles Michel, at the Orbeliani Palace on April 19. According to the agreement, the parties address two cases perceived as politicized (Giorgi Rurua and Nika Melia cases), either by an amnesty and/or by taking such steps to produce an equivalent outcome.

Nika Melia addressed the document-signatory parties urging to retract the amnesty bill as considers it inadmissible. Melia was arrested on February 23, 2021. He has been accused of organizing mass violence during anti-government protests in 2019. UNM leader denies the charges.