According to Anri Okhanashvili, Chairman of the Legal Issues Committee, the issue of Nikanor Melia's guiltiness will not be discussed today, but the Committees will deliberate the use of a preventative measure. 'He was sentenced to bail, the payment of which he violated. The prosecution shall explain to us whether the statement they made to us is well-founded and whether we should allow the parties to go to court and argue directly before the court on matters that are a criminal case. Therefore, I emphasize that we do not decide the person's criminal liability. We have the right under the Constitution and legislation to allow the defense and prosecution parties to present their arguments to the court", - A. Okhanashvili elucidated.

"We are deliberating the issue related to the suspension of immunity for our colleague, which is regulated by the Constitution of Georgia and the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament. We should discuss and present our conclusion in this regard to the Plenary Session”, - Irakli Kadagishvili, Chairman of the Rules and Procedural Issues Committee, remarked.

The Head of the Prosecutorial Oversight Division at Investigation Unit of the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia, Amiran Guluashvili, briefed the Committees on the appeal of the Prosecutor General of Georgia, which presents in detail the legal circumstances on the basis of which the Prosecutor General's Office requests the suspension of Nikanor Melia’s legislative immunity.

Questions were posed concerning the absence of Nikanor Melia’s lawyers at the sitting, to which Anri Okhanashvili clarified that no official appeal had been received in the Parliament regarding the presence of the lawyers. "Besides, we are not a court to listen to the parties and go into the depth of the case", - he added.

After the question-and-answer session and a long deliberation, before the voting, A. Okhanashvili once again asked his colleagues if they saw any need for additional arguments and explanations, even from N. Melia's defenders. The Chairman of the Legal Issues Committee once again checked with the rapporteur whether there was any new information at that moment about the transaction of any amount by M. Melia, to which he received a negative replay.

"We had the opportunity to thoroughly and carefully study the proposal submitted by the Prosecutor General's Office to the Parliament of Georgia. It is clear and unfortunate that a particular person has decided to stand above the law. In this case, despite this gross violation and the deliberate desire to go beyond the law, we have the power to decide not to arrest N. Melia, but to allow the Prosecutor General to take the case to court and apply for more severe measures, including the detention”, - A. Okhanashvili added.

According to Irakli Kadagishvili, Chairman of the Rules and Procedural Issues Committee, “It is important for the Parliament to do its utmost to ensure that law enforcement and the judiciary are unhindered. It is especially true when we see that the whole trial was conducted in accordance with the procedural norms, both by the prosecutor and the defense counsel of the accused. Currently we see that the accused is taking steps to grossly violate the law, making all these damaging, destructive calls to the state and the judiciary. The lawmakers have no right to refuse to prosecute this issue."

Both Committees approved the issue to the Plenary.

The Vice-Speaker, Levan Ioseliani refrained from endorsing the ruling.