A new charge of contempt of court has been brought against Nika Melia, a member of the Akhali party and the Coalition for Change. The country's Prosecutor General's Office reported this. According to the agency, the accused verbally insulted a judge.
"An investigation conducted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs revealed that in November 2025, Nikanor Melia showed contempt of court during an administrative court hearing held in Tbilisi City Court on November 10 [2025 – ed.], which manifested itself in verbally insulting the judge.
Nikanor Melia was charged under Article 366 (2) of the Criminal Code of Georgia (contempt of court, expressed in insulting a judge), which carries a prison sentence of up to two years.
"Since Nikanor Melia is serving a sentence based on a conviction in another criminal case, the prosecutor's office will petition the court to set a time limit for the pre-trial hearing," the department said in a statement.
Nika Melia is currently in custody. He was sentenced to eight months in prison for refusing to testify before a temporary parliamentary investigative commission. Furthermore, the opposition figure was charged with pouring water on a judge, for which he was sentenced to one year and six months in prison.
As a reminder, the temporary investigative commission was created by Georgian Dream in February of last year. Initially, it was intended to focus only on the period of Mikheil Saakashvili's rule (2003–2012), but in March its mandate was expanded to include alleged violations by the opposition up to the present day.
The maximum penalty for "failure to comply with the legal demands of the temporary investigative commission of parliament" (Article 349 of the Criminal Code of Georgia) is imprisonment for up to one year. Around ten opposition figures received prison terms under this article, including Nika Gvaramia (Coalition for Change, Akhali), Givi Targamadze (former member of the United National Movement), Zurab Japaridze (Coalition for Change, Girchi – More Freedom party), Giorgi Vashadze (Strategy Aghmashenebeli), Mamuka Khazaradze and Badri Japaridze (Strong Georgia coalition, Lelo party).
