Why do you think that my goal is imprisonment when I am more effective outside prison - Melia

At the moment, Nika Melia has made a statement in the Tbilisi City Court, where the trial of the United National Movement's Chairman is being held:

"This gentleman speaks, or rather recites what others wrote, that staying imprisoned is my self-centered interest. First of all, why does he think that its in my interests to be imprisoned, when I am more effective with my allies, outside the prison, fighting against your criminal regime, rather than in a prison.

Why should that be my goal, or why should I like living in a small cell under the 24-hour surveillance of security cameras ?! Why wouldn't I want to have a relationship with my family, my friends, my child, can that the aim for a normal person ?!! If that's my own intention, open the prison doors like you locked them," Nick Melia said.

According to Melia, they are lying when they say that Melia's imprisonment is not their intention. He told the prosecutor that he and Irakli Kobakhidze were the same.

"If this gentleman has ever talked about anything in the last 2 years, it’s been nothing but my imprisonment" he said.