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| - A court in Georgia on Monday ordered the release of jailed opposition leader Nika Melia on bail posted by the European Union, his lawyer said, in a move expected to defuse a political crisis in the Caucasus country. The release of Melia -- the chairman of Georgia's main opposition force, the United National Movement (UNM) -- was part of an agreement the ruling Georgian Dream party and opposition leaders signed last month under European Council President Charles Michel's mediation. Georgia has been gripped by crisis since October parliamentary polls that the opposition denounced as rigged. "The Tbilisi city court ordered the release of Melia on bail posted on Saturday by the EU," his lawyer Dito Sadzaglishvili told AFP. On Saturday, the EU posted bail worth $11,600 (9,500 euros) to allow for Melia's release, describing it as "an important step taken to end the political crisis in Georgia". Melia, 41, was arrested in February in a violent police raid on his party headquarters, sparking mass protests. Then-prime minister Giorgi Gakharia resigned over his government's plans to detain Melia, while the opposition called for snap elections. Brussels and Washington have led a chorus of international condemnation of Melia's detention, as fears mount in the West over Georgia's perceived backsliding on commitments to democracy. The UNM had held out on joining April's EU-mediated deal that was signed by the ruling party and most opposition parties, saying it would do so only once Melia was released from custody. Georgia's exiled ex-president and the UNM's founder, Mikheil Saakashvili, last month urged his party to sign the agreement despite its "serious shortcomings" and to enter parliament after Melia is set free. In power since 2012, Georgian Dream narrowly won the October parliamentary elections, with the opposition regularly staging mass protests in the months since to demand a fresh vote. In March, Michel initiated inter-party talks that brought the Georgian government and opposition parties to an agreement the next month. The deal commits opposition parties to enter parliament, while Georgian Dream has promised sweeping political, electoral and judicial reforms. Under the pact, the ruling party pledged to resolve cases of "perceived politicised justice" through amnesties or similar measures within a week -- the clause that concerns the criminal case against Melia. Brussels also offered to post bail on Melia's behalf to have him released from custody before the amnesty bill is passed. The refusal by the UNM and another opposition party, European Georgia, to sign the deal and to end their parliamentary boycott has left around 40 seats vacant in Georgia's 150-member legislature. Melia's arrest followed a court order to place him in pre-trial detention after he refused to pay an increased bail fee ahead of hearings in a case related to anti-government demonstrations in 2019. He has denounced the case as politically motivated. Melia had united Georgia's traditionally fractured opposition ahead of October's disputed elections, emerging as a respected cross-party leader who developed an unprecedented unified opposition front against Georgian Dream's rule. im/emg/kjl
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