Not paying the bail is not a crime, it is a form of political protest. Such a statement made today Levan Ioseliani, the opposition vice-speaker of the Parliament, while commenting Nika Melia’s case.

“Not paying the bail is not a crime! Due to the non-payment of bail, the parliament should not give consent for a person to be imprisoned. The essence of MP immunity is to protect our freedom of expression and to protect the political risk that we, politicians, take in this particular case. Consider that non-payment is a form of political protest by Nika Melia. If the form of political protest is protected by immunity, then why do we terminate the immunity?! For two years he made no attempt to put pressure on the witnesses, to try to remove the evidence, or to try to hide it. There is no precondition for detention to be applied to him - the court has refused it itself. Why do we create a precondition for this and why do we give the green light for Melia to go to jail?”, - said Levan Ioseliani.