“What kind of silly questions are these?! No, of course I do not plead guilty. I’m holding myself back with great effort, but I might still tell you something soon,” this is how the defendant, Nika Melia, responded to Judge Irakli Shvangiradze’s question about whether he pleaded guilty.

Melia made this statement at the City Court, where he is on trial for failing to appear before the temporary parliamentary investigative commission.

In addition to the judge, Nika Melia also called the questions from the prosecution side “silly.”

“I can’t listen to this nonsense. This isn’t an insult compared to what I could tell you and what you deserve,” Nika Melia told the prosecutor.

It’s worth noting that Nika Melia has been ordered to pay bail in the amount of 50,000 GEL in this case. The prosecution is requesting that bail be replaced with imprisonment. According to the defense, Melia’s bail payment deadline was May 29, but he was arrested before he could pay. The defense attorneys argue that the prosecution’s motion to replace bail with imprisonment is unfounded and unjustified.

Nika Melia was brought to Tbilisi City Court from the temporary detention isolator in Digomi, where he had been detained on May 29 by law enforcement officers for an entirely separate administrative case, specifically, according to the agency, for verbally insulting or otherwise disrespecting a law enforcement officer.

For context, Nika Melia was summoned to a session of the temporary parliamentary investigative commission to provide an explanation, which he did not attend, and was subsequently charged.

The Tbilisi City Court ordered bail in the amount of 50,000 GEL as a preventive measure, which Melia did not pay.

Nika Melia is charged under Article 349 of the Criminal Code, which involves “failure to comply with a request of the temporary parliamentary investigative commission of the Parliament of Georgia.”

This action is punishable by a fine, or up to one year of imprisonment, or a ban on holding office or engaging in activities for up to three years.