A court in Georgia on Monday ordered the release of jailed opposition leader Nika Melia on bail the European Union posted over the weekend to defuse a protracted political crisis in the Caucasus country, his lawyer said. A court in the capital Tbilisi "ordered the release of Melia on bail posted on Saturday by the EU," his lawyer Dito Sadzaglishvili told AFP, as part of a Brussels-mediated deal between Georgia's ruling party and the opposition to end a political crisis that has gripped the country since disputed elections last year. im/emg/kjl