Prepared by Messenger Staff
Investigation Into 2024 Attack on Nika Melia Resumes, Lawyer Says
The investigation into the August 2024 attack on Coalition for Change leader Nika Melia in Samtredia has resumed after prosecutors reclassified the case, Melia's lawyer Beka Kvinikadze said.
Melia was attacked on Aug. 11, 2024, while responding to journalists' questions during the opening of a Coalition for Change office in Samtredia. A young man approached him, struck him in the face and verbally abused him before fleeing the scene.
Kvinikadze said the Interior Ministry initially opened the case under an article covering violence, but the Prosecutor's Office later reclassified it as violent interference in an election campaign.
According to the lawyer, Melia was questioned as a witness at a penitentiary facility about two weeks ago without his lawyers being notified in advance and has not been granted victim status.
Kvinikadze said several witnesses have also been questioned and criticized the nearly two-year delay in the investigation, arguing that the alleged attacker admitted the assault was politically motivated, making the lengthy wait for forensic examinations unnecessary.
"We have been stating from the very beginning that the case should have been investigated as interference in an election campaign," Kvinikadze said. "Real investigative actions have begun now."
Studio Monitori Says Social Media Accounts Targeted in Alleged Coordinated Attack
The Facebook page of investigative outlet Studio Monitori was temporarily disabled on Aug. 3 and restored later the same day, with the outlet saying it was part of a wider campaign targeting its work.
Monitori journalist Mari Dudunia told Publika that the outlet had faced repeated phishing attempts and coordinated complaints against its Facebook, YouTube and TikTok accounts over the past month.
The incident came about a week after Monitori's YouTube channel was temporarily removed. Dudunia said the channel was restored after an appeal, with YouTube finding no copyright violation.
She said the complaints appeared to come from inauthentic accounts and alleged that some were linked to government-affiliated pages. Monitori has published investigations into Georgian Dream officials and their associates.
The Facebook suspension occurred shortly before Monitori published a follow-up investigation into scam call centres in Tbilisi. The report said individuals exposed in an international investigation last year continued operating despite authorities freezing their assets.
