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Alleged assailant attends court armed with gun
Reporter expelled from courtroom by mob
JW Public Affairs Office (20.11.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (25.11.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email info@hrwf.net Today attorneys for victims appearing in a criminal case delivered a letter to Georgian authorities strongly protesting the lack of security in the Tbilisi Didube-Chugureti District Court, where defrocked priest Mkalavishvili and associate Petre (Gia) Ivanidze are being prosecuted for violent attacks against Jehovah's Witnesses. Eyewitnesses report seeing Ivanidze carrying a handgun inside the courtroom during proceedings on November 18.
The letter demands that when the criminal trial resumes on December 6, no one apart from police be allowed to bring weapons into the courtroom. Copies of the document have been sent to Justice Lado Chanturia, the Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and other high level Georgian officials. International observers have noted adequate security outside the court building each day since the trial commenced on October 25, 2002. However, as stated by Gregory Olds, an attorney from the world headquarters of Jehovah's Witnesses in New York, who has been present everyday of the proceedings, "The safety of the victims inside the courtroom must be given the highest priority. It is intolerable that someone indicted for criminal acts be allowed inside the courtroom with a firearm."
Adding to the breach in security, the packed courtroom was the scene of a verbal assault on a reporter Sozar Subeliani. Defendant Ivanidze and other supporters of Mkalavishvili yelled at and threatened Subeliani during a recess in the proceedings and demanded that he leave the courtroom. Observers noted that Court staff insisted that Subeliani leave the courtroom in order to pacify the mob.
The prosecution of Mkalavishvili and Ivanidze is unique. In many other instances, despite being provided with eyewitness testimony, photographs and video clips of criminal acts, Georgian prosecutors have refused to indict the men.
So far, victims of the violent attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses have filed 784 criminal complaints with Georgia authorities. To date, No one has been arrested or punished.
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Mixed reaction to Orthodox-State Concordat
by Felix Corley, Keston News Service
Keston Institute (14.10.2002)/ HRWF Int. (15.10.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email info@hrwf.net - Views on the new concordat between the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate and the state signed by President Eduard Shevardnadze and Patriarch-Catholicos Ilya II on 14 October have varied widely. In a survey of views among religious minority leaders, Keston News Service has learnt that some feel the agreement is welcome, paving the way for other religious communities to sign similar agreements. Others fear that the very public signature ceremony - widely carried in the Georgian media - will send a signal that minority communities' rights should be further eroded. Many fear the agreement will do nothing to end the widespread violence against religious minority communities, which has seen Baptist, Pentecostal, Jehovah's Witness and True Orthodox believers beaten and their places of worship attacked or destroyed with impunity.
Georgia's ombudsman Nana Devdariani told Keston that although there were many complaints about earlier versions of the concordat, she believes there is no reason for minority faiths to object to it now. "It is important that the concordat cannot be used to harm the interests of followers of other faiths," she told Keston from Tbilisi on 15 October. "This has now been achieved." She noted that in any case, the Georgian constitution which guarantees religious freedom remains the highest legal document, above the concordat.
Devdariani said her office will be making recommendations about the text to the patriarchate and the president's office only about the question of Orthodox religious items still in state hands. She believes they would be better kept in state museums where they can be protected.
She maintained that provisions in the concordat declaring all Orthodox property in the country to be the property of the Patriarchate refers only to property that historically belonged to the Patriarchate. "This will not relate to property newly-acquired by Orthodox of other jurisdictions," she told Keston. "Groups that broke away from the Patriarchate should not be obstructed in their activity - the Patriarchate cannot forbid or allow them to operate."
Devdariani was not sure whether other religious groups in Georgia would sign similar agreements, but believed it was better to continue work on adopting a law on religion (Georgia is the only former Soviet republic without one). "The law on religion should establish the rights of religious communities." She recognised the widespread violation of religious rights at the moment, especially the violence against religious minorities which remains unpunished. "Rights are violated not on paper but in reality," she noted. "The authorities should deal with this. If the violence is not punished it will only get worse."
One supporter of the concordat is Vili Grigoryan, adviser to the council of the Armenian Apostolic diocese of Georgia. "We are positive - the concordat is necessary," he told Keston from Tbilisi on 14 October. He stressed that other major religious communities will also soon begin discussions on signing individual agreements with the state. "We agreed last year with the Patriarchate that all the traditional faiths will sign agreements." He admitted that such discussions have not yet begun, but expected them to do so soon. He added that this was especially important for all faiths as they do not at present have legal status. "Of course we all want legal status."
Many minority religious communities remain suspicious of it. Word of Life leader Pastor Mamuka Jebisashvili believed the concordat would not end the hostility and religiously-motivated violence against minorities. "On the contrary, it will guarantee that non-Orthodox communities will be liquidated," he told Keston from Tbilisi on 15 October.
Likewise, Pastor Gary Azikov, secretary of the Lutheran Church in Georgia, complains that the concordat leaves his Church out in the cold. "We would be positive towards the concordat if there was also a law on religion giving our Church and other religious communities legal status," he told Keston from Tbilisi on 14 October. He said the state chancellery had denied his Church access to the text of the concordat, telling the Lutherans that the text would not be released until after it has been finally agreed.
Bishop Songulashvili believed provisions on religious education in schools remain "obscure". He added that provisions granting the Orthodox Church tax-exempt status could cause it problems. "This could open the door for the Orthodox Church to be misused by the mafia - it could be dangerous for the Orthodox Church." He regretted that the concordat allows restitution only of confiscated Orthodox churches and does not allow other faiths to regain religious buildings confiscated by the Soviet regime. He believes it is now "impossible" for other faiths to sign individual agreements with the government. "This will require constitutional changes - it is not realistic." He believes it is better to have a religion law that abides by international religious liberty commitments.
Emil Adelkhanov of the Caucasian Institute For Peace, Democracy and Development in Tbilisi believes the final version of the concordat represents "something of a compromise between those church circles (and not just them) which were demanding that Orthodoxy be given the status of a state religion and those who insisted on the exclusively secular nature of the Georgian state." He told Keston from Tbilisi on 9 October that the concordat gives the Orthodox Church "by no means all the privileges proposed earlier", but he was concerned that it made a distinction between the Orthodox Church and all other religious communities.
Adelkhanov pointed to the provision on religious education in state schools. "If voluntary study of the catechism is introduced into schools," the concordat declares, "the syllabus is to be drawn up with the participation of the Patriarchate and teachers are not to take part nor be removed without the blessing of the Patriarchate." He regards this as a "much more liberal version" than that proposed earlier.
Despite not having read it, Azikov expressed fears that his Church will be disadvantaged. He criticised the Patriarchate's veto over who can and cannot teach religion in schools. "Where is freedom of religion in that? Non-Orthodox cannot work in schools." He noted that while the Orthodox Church will get its property back, the Lutherans will not be able to regain the surviving churches in Asureti, Bolnisi and near Tsalki, confiscated during the Soviet regime. More importantly, he complained that the Lutherans cannot register their newly-built churches in Tbilisi and Rustavi as religious buildings.
Many other religious communities say they do not know how the concordat will be implemented. "I haven't read it and don't know what's in it," Gennady Gudadze, spokesperson for the Jehovah's Witnesses in Georgia, told Keston from Tbilisi on 15 October. "We don't know what impact it will have." The Jehovah's Witnesses - with more than 130 communities across Georgia and a claimed 15,000 active adult members - have borne the brunt of religious violence over the past few years.
Bishop Malkaz Songulashvili, the head of the Baptist Union, was concerned less about the content of the concordat than about the greater role it will give the Orthodox Church in society, possibly to the detriment of other religious communities. "I don't know what will happen," he told Keston on 15 October. "Hardly any laws here are put into practice. But it could be misused as a hammer to beat the non-Orthodox."
Source: Keston Institute - www.keston.org
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Attacks continue on heels of US Commission hearing
JW Public Affairs Office (03.10.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (07.10.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email info@hrwf.net - Three new incidents of physical assaults on Jehovah's Witnesses in the republic of Georgia were reported last week, on the heels of a U.S. commission hearing where such persecution was described as acts of "barbarity."
The first of these attacks came a day after the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe held the hearing, "The Republic of Georgia: Democracy, Human Rights and Security." Speaking on the last three years of vicious attacks against religious minorities, Co-Chairman of the Commission, Christopher H. Smith stated, "There can be no excuse for state toleration of such barbarity!"
The following describes the most recent events in this ongoing persecution:
On the afternoon of September 25, some 15 extremists led by Paata Bluashvili of the ultra-Orthodox "Jvari" organization in the city of Rustavi forcibly entered a private home where about 20 Jehovah's Witnesses and their non-Witness guests were gathered for Bible study. Two of the Witnesses and one non-Witness visitor were physically assaulted.
The next day in the village of Napareuli a mob of masked men with firearms, burst into a private home where the meetings were being conducted. Those in attendance were assaulted, and the interiors of the homes were ransacked. Literature and personal belongings were destroyed or stolen. As reported by eyewitnesses, it was the leader of the attack, the village administrator Mr. Nodar Paradashvili, who beat one of the victims into unconsciousness. Both Bluashvili and Paradashvili have been identified by victims as leaders of previous assaults.
In a third incident, on September 29, a mob gathered outside the residence of one of Jehovah's Witnesses in the Digomi district of Tbilisi and refused to allow others to enter the premises where a meeting was to be held. The mob forcibly seized Bibles and Bible literature from the group, verbally abusing those arriving for the meeting and assaulting at least one person. In all three cases, police declined to intervene after learning that the incidents involved attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Arsonists torch meeting place of Jehovah's Witnesses
on eve of convention
JW Public Affairs Office Tbilisi (15.08.2002) )/ HRWF International Secretariat (25.07.2002) - Websitehttp://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - At 12:45 a.m. today, unidentified individuals crept onto the property of Ushangi Bunturi, where meetings and annual conventions of Jehovah's Witnesses have been held for many years.
The arsonists doused the site with gasoline and ignited it with a torch, then ran away. The ensuing blaze destroyed equipment to be used for a convention of Jehovah's Witnesses which was to be held on this site tomorrow. Upon hearing the loud noise from the blaze, the owner of the site, Ushangi Bunturi, and his family reacted quickly to protect their property and preserve their lives. Within seconds, the flames engulfed everything and reached a height of close to ten meters. After 40 minutes firemen arrived at the scene to control the fire.
More than 250 benches and construction materials had already been destroyed. Yesterday, just one day before the convention and only about seven hours before this incident, the Kaspi Chief of Police, Ramazi Gogiashvili, together with two assistants visited the site. They spoke to the owner and requested that the planned convention be moved to another location since a famous parliamentarian was to arrive in the city. The Police Chief then publicly declined all responsibility for possible problems during the convention if the Witnesses did not relocate.
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Thirty new cases against Georgia filed with the European Court
Jehovah's Witnesses Georgia (23.07.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (25.07.2002) - Websitehttp://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Today 99 victims of attacks by religious extremists, Orthodox clerics and policemen in the former Soviet republic of Georgia filed a total of 30 cases with the European Court of Human Rights. All 30 cases were combined into one application, which sets out the systematic refusal by the Georgian State to prosecute those responsible for the attacks.
A motion was also filed with the court asking that these 30 cases be joined to 2 cases already filed by Jehovah's Witnesses, thus enabling the European Court to address the violations of the European Convention by Georgian law-enforcement officials. If the motion is granted, the European Court will have jurisdiction over 32 cases filed during the last year involving the "culture of impunity" toward religious intolerance and violence permitted by authorities in Georgia.
One of the 30 cases concerns the violent attack by state officials against a convention of Jehovah's Witnesses held in the western Georgian city of Zugdidi on September 8, 2000. In this case, a document approved and signed by high officials of the Ministry of the Interior and entitled "Operational Protective Measures to Prevent the Convention of the Religious Movement 'Jehovah'"was filed with the court. This document sets out the plan of action used by the state in mobilizing nearly 100 policemen to shut down this peaceful convention of Jehovah's Witnesses illegally.
In all 30 cases, despite being provided with clear evidence of criminal acts, including eyewitness testimony, photographs and video clips, the prosecutor has refused to initiate even one prosecution. Many "paper investigations" were started, but most of the time investigators refused to give victims copies of decisions in order to prevent them from filing appeals. In one case, there was never any investigation because the chief of police admitted that he had ripped up and destroyed the criminal complaints when he received them. Although several cases included in the application were appealed to the Supreme Court of Georgia, it invariably supported the Prosecutor's Office in its refusing to allow any investigations into the attacks.
"We have now filed with the European Court 32 cases for which the victims have no effective domestic remedy," stated Mamuka Chabashvili, one of the attorneys on record in the application. "We have another 500 criminal complaints filed with the Prosecutor's Office. Unless the State commences prosecution of the perpetrators of these criminal acts without regard to religious affiliation, it may become necessary to submit these complaints to the European Court as well."
For more information, visit jw-media.org, www.jw-georgia.org
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Draft religion law consultation
By Felix Corley
Keston News Service (09.07.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (11.07.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - In early June the Justice Ministry circulated its draft of a new law on religion, which has already been criticised by human rights activists and a number of Georgia's minority faiths. Georgia is the only former Soviet republic that has not so far adopted a law covering religion and there is no system of registering religious communities with the government. Some minority faiths argue that there is no need for a religion law at all, stressing that instead the government should tackle the issue of religious violence which has plagued the country for the past three years.
Giorgi Beridze, head of the justice ministry's department for legal issues and relations with parliament, confirmed to Keston from Tbilisi on 9 July that he is the official handling the religion bill within the government and that consultation is continuing on the draft. He added that so far he had not seen any responses to the draft from any religious groups, although copies were given to religious communities on 7 June for their comments.
Although discussion of a possible religion law has been going on for some years, the impetus for the latest text was President Eduard Shevardnadze's 17 May decree calling for a halt to religious violence, which ordered the justice minister, Roland Giligashvili, to prepare a new draft law as soon as possible. Deputy justice minister, Zurab Ezukbaia, reported on the details of the draft law at a justice ministry press conference on 23 May. Ezukbaia told journalists that the draft law stipulates obligatory registration of all religious organisations at the justice ministry and said that activities of those who ignored the demand would be suspended.
One of the first to criticise the draft was the defrocked Orthodox priest Basil Mkalavishvili, who is now under the jurisdiction of the Greek Old Calendarist bishop Metropolitan Cyprian. The law was drafted under pressure from the American authorities, who are "trying to legalise religious sects" in Georgia, he claimed in a 26 May statement. "The draft law drawn up by the Ministry of Justice is anti-Orthodox and anti-Georgian because it legalises sects and permits their registration, the building of temples and the holding of congresses in these temples. But the worst thing is that the draft law calls on the Orthodox population to freely choose their religion," the statement said. As a result of this, "our enemy's wish to have a Georgia without Georgians" will come true, Mkalavishvili said. On 10 June Mkalavishvili attacked the justice ministry and publicly burnt a copy of the draft law.
Some believe there are many in Georgia who do not want a balanced law to be adopted, among them Mkalavishvili. "He is unhappy with the draft not because it does not give churches the right to serve society but because it does not forbid activity of non-Orthodox churches ("sects" as he calls us)," Songulashvili noted. "The government-owned mass media is happily promoting the cause of the priest." Oleg Khubashvili, head of the Pentecostal Union, was also worried about those wishing to restrict the rights of minority faiths. "There are forces who don't want a good new law to be adopted," he warned. "They want only the Orthodox Church to exist and for all other religious groups to be prevented from operating."
Source : http://www.keston.org/
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Serious concerns over draft religion law
By Felix Corley
Keston News Service (09.07.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (11.07.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Human rights activists and a number of Georgia's minority faiths have expressed their concerns about provisions of a new law on religion currently being prepared by the Justice Ministry (see separate KNS article). "Even though the new draft is much better than earlier drafts we had seen, it is still discriminatory," Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili, the head of the Baptist Union, told Keston from Tbilisi on 11 June. His concerns were echoed by Father Gela Aroshvili, an Orthodox priest who leads four parishes and a monastery outside the framework of the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate, who said his attitude to the draft is "very negative". "We believe the state and the justice ministry wrote it together with the Patriarchate," he told Keston from Tbilisi on 5 July.
"Both the president at our meeting in July 2001 and the minister of justice in the meeting at the State Ombudsman's office in February 2002 promised us, the religious leaders of the country, that we would be involved in the preparation of this draft," Bishop Songulashvili reported. "But it is clear that the only religion they have consulted was the Georgian Orthodox church."
As evidence of his claim, he cited article 10.4 of the draft: "A religious community which has been active on the territory of Georgia for at least 50 years is allowed to include the word Georgia or Georgian in its name when being registered". "This article is designed to protect the name of the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate from unwanted rival Orthodox churches, the number of which has been increasing for last 10 years," Songulashvili claimed. "Obviously this article will not hurt our church since we have already been in Georgia for 135 years."
A more serious concern for the Baptist Union is Article 4.7, which reads:"Improper proselytism - which implies the offer of material or social benefits with a view to attracting new members to a religious entity or a confession or psycho-ideological influence on a person with the same end without apparent preliminary consent on the part of the latter - shall be impermissible." Bishop Songulashvili reported that in line with this provision, an amendment is being suggested for Article 155 of the criminal code: "Offering of material or social care in order to attract new members to a religious organisation or confession ... is punished either by a fine or by two years' imprisonment."
Bishop Songulashvili believes such a provision could endanger the work of those churches which are actively involved in social and relief ministries, which he identified as the Baptists, the Catholics and the Lutherans. "We have come out of the communist society where the Churches and religion in general were forbidden to participate in the social life of the country. It is only now that we are making some modest steps as churches to meet the incredible needs in our society," Songulashvili told Keston. "This new religious legislation will both limit and discourage churches from taking some social responsibilities. The churches and religions due to their special nature are very close to the people's needs."
These concerns were highlighted in a joint letter to the state chancellery and to the justice minister, signed by Songulashivili on behalf of the Baptist Union, Bishop Giuseppe Pasotto of the Catholic Church, Bishop Gert Hummel of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and Archbishop Kevork Seraidarian of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
As well as highlighting concerns over "illegal proselytism", and the 50-year rule for including the term "Georgian" in a group's name (which they regard as "restrictive and undemocratic"), the four communities also pointed to worries over Article 8 on religious education. "This article should be drafted very carefully in order to avoid the imposition of religion on pupils," they declared. They also wanted a sentence inserted into Article 7 to make clear that the concordat with the Orthodox Church must not conflict with the religion law.
Father Aroshvili said his "most important" criticism was of Article 13, which makes registration impossible for religious groups whose "objective and activity are in breach of the constitution". He claimed that, given the provision in Article 7 on the state's concordat with the Orthodox Church, the state could use this against those that are unhappy with the concordat. "If we act or preach against the concordat, they could refuse us registration." He particularly highlighted the Patriarchate's monopoly on new church building enshrined in the concordat. He feared another provision of the article, which prevents a group from registering if another group with the same or a similar name is already registered, could be used to prevent his parishes and monastery registering. "They might say the Orthodox Church is only the Patriarchate."
Father Aroshvili also complained of Article 11, which calls for a "religious expert assessment" of groups applying to register. "What sort of assessment will that be?" he asked. "Will it be by the state or the Patriarchate? Whoever draws up the assessment will decide whether someone gets registration or not." He also fears that Article 23 which declares that religious groups are subject to tax could be used against his Church. "The tax code frees the Patriarchate from taxes, but we'll have to pay them. They'll keep building them up until there are no other Churches left. Our publications will be so burdened with tax that we can't function. Our buildings too."
He also fears that the requirement in Article 11 that the fifty founding members of a religious community give their full addresses together with other personal details could be "very dangerous". "There is a climate of fear. The police and the secret police could use this information to instigate a reign of terror against the founder members. They could be persecuted."
Father Aroshvili rejected any attempts by the government to make registration compulsory under the new law. "Of course it's not right to say registration is compulsory. If I don't want to register, why should I?"
He said his Church had sent in its detailed comments on the bill to the state chancellery and the justice ministry at the end of June.
Also critical of some aspects of the new bill is Oleg Khubashvili, head of the Pentecostal Union. He said his union had sent in its comments to the justice ministry at the beginning of July.
Human rights groups have joined the criticism of the draft law. "My attitude to the bill is very negative," Tiniko Khidasheli, head of the Tbilisi-based Young Lawyers' Association, told Keston on 5 July. Her views are shared by another Tbilisi-based human rights group, the Liberty Institute.
Source : http://www.keston.org/
Back to the Table of ContentsOrthodox priests lead ?pogrom? against Pentecostal Church and Catholic pilgrims
Keston News Service (08.07.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (09.07.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Two Orthodox priests led a three-day attack on a Pentecostal church in the Georgian capital Tbilisi over the weekend (5-7 July), witnesses have told Keston News Service.
"The mob of about thirty or forty people burst into the house, beat people, frightened the children, stole Bibles, rummaged through people's bags and uttered very many threats - to the believers and to our family. It was a pogrom. They didn't care if you were old or young - they even beat pregnant women, ? described one witness.
In a separate incident, a group of Catholics - among them the Apostolic Administrator Bishop Giuseppe Pasotto - who were on pilgrimage in eastern Georgia on 3 July were physically attacked by a group of people reportedly sent by two Orthodox priests. They told the pilgrims they had no right to walk in their diocese.
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Religious minority leaders condemn religious violence again
Keston News Service (08.07.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (09.07.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Religious minority leaders have expressed their concern about recent attacks in Georgia.
"I am concerned that the religious violence is continuing in Georgia, this time by the clergy of the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate," Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili of the Baptist Union, told Keston News Service.
In more than 100 incidents in recent years, Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, Pentecostals and Catholics have been subjected to violent physical attacks and arson. None of the perpetrators has been sentenced, although many are well known, despite repeated protests from minority faiths, local human rights groups and international bodies.
A Jehovah's Witness spokesman commented on Justice Ministry moves to draft a new religion law, "The problem of violence against religious minorities in Georgia is due not to a lack of laws, but to the failure to apply existing laws."
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Supreme Court of Georgia refuses to prosecute religious extremists
JW-Georgia (27.06.02)/ HRWF International Secretariat (28.06.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - TBILISI, GEORGIA--On June 18, 2002, Justice Nino Jvenitadze of the Supreme Court upheld a trial court's decision not to open a criminal case involving criminal acts and police brutality.
On September 15, 2001 Manuchar Gaprindashvili and Jemal Margvelani, both Jehovah's Witnesses, were assaulted in Kutaisi by a religious extremist. When they brought their complaint to the nearest police station, Manuchar Giorgashvili was again verbally and physically assaulted, this time by a policeman, Temur Kvirikashvili. The victims were prepared to prove in court that the religious extremist, however, was congratulated by policemen for his 'manly' behavior. In spite of eyewitness evidence and medical reports, the Prosecutor, the trial court and the Supreme Court all refused to have those responsible for these criminal acts prosecuted and convicted. Victims are considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
During the past two years, at least 700 criminal complaints have been filed with law enforcement officials regarding such attacks against Jehovah's Witnesses by religious extremists. In spite of two Presidential Decrees ordering law enforcement officials to prosecute those responsible for such criminal acts and a Supreme Court Statement condemning such acts, no one has yet been convicted.
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Georgian government complicity in mob violence against minority religious groups
By H. Knox Thames
CSCE Digest (03.05.2002)/HRWF International Secretariat (27.05.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Over the past two years, mob violence against minority religious groups has plagued the Republic of Georgia, a participating State in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) since 1992. A country of five million people, Georgia has seen more than its share of sectarian violence, as individuals propagating religious chauvinism conduct a campaign of brutality against other religious communities. Adding to this, police units have reportedly participated in violence against minority religious groups, or have failed to respond to attacks in an adequate fashion. As a result, a number of minority religious communities remain at risk in Georgia today as depredations continue with impunity.
As a participating OSCE State, Georgia pledged to uphold freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief to all individuals without distinction. As stated in the 1983 Madrid Concluding Document, participating States "agree to take the action necessary to ensure the freedom of the individual to profess and practice, alone or in community with others, religion or belief acting in accordance with the dictates of his own conscience."
Since 1999, organized mob brutality against minority religious groups has gradually escalated, with the Jehovah's Witnesses being a repeated target. As stated by the Department of State's 2001 International Religious Freedom Report, local "police and security officials at times harassed nontraditional religious minority groups and were complicit or failed to respond to attacks by Orthodox extremists against Jehovah's Witnesses and other nontraditional religious minorities." Despite the inability of Georgian authorities to incarcerate the perpetrators, the 1995 Georgian Constitution does guarantee protection.
Despite constitutional protections, over the past two years, approximately 80 attacks against Jehovah's Witnesses have taken place, mostly led by Vasili Mkalavishvili, a defrocked Georgian Orthodox priest, and Paata Bluashvili, the director of the Orthodox "Jvari" Union. While victims have filed more than 700 criminal complaints, the authorities have not responded, leaving the perpetrators free to repeat their attacks.
Reports give startling examples of individuals being dragged by their hair into a group, only to be pummeled with punches, kicks and clubs. Buses taking Jehovah's Witnesses to various events have been stopped by police, and then attacked by Mkalavishvili's and Bluashvili's mob. In September 2001, Bluashvili led an attack during a Jehovah's Witness religious service, with some of his militants brandishing firearms. In addition, Mkalavishvili, viewing himself as a pugilist defending Georgian Christianity, reportedly declared Jehovah's Witnesses "should be shot, we must annihilate them."
Soon thereafter, with the violence steadily increasing and the government declining to intervene, Jehovah's Witnesses conducted their activities in private, and for four months no violence occurred. However, in April of this year, that calm was shattered when Mkalavishvili's and Bluashvili's mob attacked on two separate occasions private homes that were hosting meetings. Considering the brutality Mkalavishvili and Bluashvili have displayed, it is astonishing that to date no fatalities have occurred.
While the Jehovah's Witnesses have borne the brunt of these attacks, other minority religious communities have also suffered under this vigilantism. Last year, during choir practice of a Pentecostal church, Mkalavishvili's militants raided the building, seriously injuring twelve church members. A mob exceeding 100 hooligans targeted an Evangelical church two days before Christmas 2001, clubbing members and stealing property. In February of this year, Mkalavishvili's mob tried to raze a warehouse owned by the Baptist Union, burning Bibles and religious materials. Mkalavishvili organized approximately 150 followers in three buses to accomplish this goal. In addition, Mkalavishvili has targeted the offices of government ombudswoman Nana Devdariani, the Tbilisi based NGO Liberty Institute, and the Rezonansi newspaper. The police have consistently refused to restrain the attackers, with only a few exceptions to note.
Unfortunately, the judicial system has proven equally inept. On January 25th, prosecutors commenced legal proceedings against Mkalavishvili and one of his lieutenants for two mob attacks, although the minor charges brought do not reflect the gravity of their crimes. Yet, since the first hearing, the commitment of Georgian officials to vigorously prosecute Mkalavishvili has been evanescent. The case has been postponed five times, most recently due to the prosecutor failing to appear. These delays can be attributed to Mkalavishvili's mob, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, maintaining a menacing presence both outside and inside the Didube-Chugureti District Court. At several hearings, large numbers have crashed into the court while carrying wooden and iron crosses, as well as banners with offensive slogans. Obviously feeling immune from government action, Mkalavishvili has used the courtroom itself as a platform, reportedly threatening lawyers and victims through a megaphone. Evidence of these events is readily available as local television stations are usually tipped in advance, airing footage of the attacks and interviews of Mkalavishvili and Bluashvili on the nightly news.
Despite fervent appeals by victims and their lawyers, the police have refused to provide adequate courtroom security. Attorneys for the victims even petitioned the court for assistance, only for the judge to decide no more than 10 police officers would be permitted. Inexcusably, the judge put no limit on the number of Mkalavishvili's followers granted access to the courtroom. In a stark contradiction, more than 200 police and a SWAT team were ordered to protect officials from the Ministry of Interior when Mkalavishvili was brought to trial under different charges.
In sum, the Georgian Government is proving ineffective in ameliorating the situation and protecting its citizens, regardless of their religious faith, from mob violence. Meanwhile, President Eduard Shevardnadze has held meetings with faith communities to demonstrate religious tolerance.
He has also issued a presidential decree calling for the Ministry of Interior to take action, but by allowing lawless bands of militants to attack peaceful gatherings, his illusory actions are speaking louder than his words. By allowing the strength of the police and judicial systems to become a farce, it will only further encourage contravention of Georgian laws. However, despite actions demonstrated to date, the Georgian Government can end the attacks and bring to justice the perpetrators of this brutality.
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St. Basil's Cathedral Orthodox extremist
spoils image of Eduard Shevardnadze
Georgian responses to international criticism of rights violations
by Mikhail Vignansky
Vremia novostei (21.05.2002)/HRWF International Secretariat (22.05.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Yesterday nearly 100 adherents of Father Vasily Mkalavishvili, who was excommunicated from the Georgian church several years ago, conducted a demonstration of protest at the embassy of USA in Tbilisi. To the peal of a bell and singing, the demonstration participants, holding crosses and a church banner, demanded an end to interference in the internal affairs of Georgia.
The "Basilites," as the flock of the schismatic father is called, held several photographs with the inscription "traitors." These were the ombudsman Nana Devdariani, parliamentary deputy Elena Tevdoradze, assistant secretary of the Council of National Security for questions of protection of human rights Rusudan Beridze, and representatives of the non-governmental Liberty Institute, who supposedly are defending Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, and other "unfaithful ones."
Religious extremism, which would have seemed impossible to imagine in multinational and historically tolerant Georgia, began to appear a couple of years ago when the excommunicated Basil founded his own diocese in the "bedroom" district of Tbilisi - Gldani. "Basilists" have terrorized representatives of religious minorities - Jehovah's Witnesses, Baptists, and others, who supposedly lure followers of Orthodoxy into their "criminal sects" and conduct Satanic sacrifices. Besides this, the enemies of Father Basil supposedly are guilty of mass suicides, rejection of conscript service in the army, and refusals of blood transfusions for medical purposes.
The size of "Basilism" has exceeded expectations. They have established a network of informers that permits them to break up meetings of "sects," beat their members, and conduct public autos-da-f of "nontraditional" religious literature. They are so well organized that one gets the impression of at least sympathy from the law enforcement agencies. Or even that in politically electrified Georgia somebody is intentionally stirring up emotions. But now an international uproar has developed.
At the end of last week, fifteen American senators, including Hillary Clinton, sent a letter to Eduard Shevardnadze in which they called for putting an end to religious excess. The letter notes that "in the course of the past two years aggressive crowds have attacked representatives of non-Orthodox societies, the police have not intervened and have not tried to prevent disorders, and President Shevardnadze and the authorities of Georgia have closed their eyes to the unceasing violence." The senators possess data of at least 700 victims of the "Basilists." The Council of Europe also has expressed alarm.
President Shevardnadze views the attack on his own international prestige extremely sensitively. Several hours before the demonstration at the American diplomatic mission, he shared the concern of "American and European friends." In an interview on national radio, the president spoke in favor of the urgent development of a law on religion. Father Basil's supporters themselves spoke out in favor of the urgent proclamation of Orthodoxy as the state religion, declaring that Hillary Clinton is a Baptist and a defender of "criminal sects" in Georgia. They threatened mass actions in defense of their pastor, who supposedly is about to be arrested. (tr. by PDS, posted 21 May 2002)
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Unpunished religious persecution in the Republic of Georgia
Hon. Gordon H. Smith of Oregon
US Senate (26.04.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (07.05.2002) C Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Mr. SMITH of Oregon. Mr. President, as a member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, I have followed closely human rights developments in the participating States, especially as they have an impact on freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief. In many former communist countries, local religious establishments have reacted with concern and annoyance about perceived encroachment of religions considered "non-traditional." But in the Republic of Georgia organized mob violence against those of nontraditional faiths has escalated, largely directed against Jehovah's Witnesses. For over 2 years, a wave of mob attacks has been unleashed on members of this and other minority religious communities, and it is very disturbing that the police have consistently either refused to restrain the attackers or actually participated in the violence.
Since October 1999, nearly 80 attacks against Jehovah's Witnesses have taken place, most led by a defrocked Georgian Orthodox priest, Vasili Mkalavishvili. These violent acts have gone unpunished, despite the filing of over 600 criminal complaints. Reports cite people being dragged by their hair and then summarily punched, kicked and clubbed, as well as buses being stopped and attacked. The priest leading these barbaric actions has been quoted as saying Jehovah's Witnesses "should be shot, we must annihilate them." Considering the well-documented frenzy of these depredations, it is only a matter of time before the assaults end in someone's death.
Other minority religious communities have not escaped unscathed, but have also been targeted. Mkalavishvili coordinated an attack against a Pentecostal church last year during choir practice. His truncheon-wielding mob seriously injured 12 church members. Two days before Christmas 2001, over 100 of his militants raided an Evangelical church service, clubbing members and stealing property. In February of this year, Mkalavishvili brought three buses of people, approximately 150 followers, to burn Bibles and religious materials owned by the Baptist Union.
Mkalavishvili brazenly holds impromptu press conferences with media outlets, often as the violence transpires in the background. With his hooligans perpetrating violent acts under the guise of religious piety, camera crews set up and document everything for the local news. The absence of a conviction and subsequent imprisonment of Mkalavishvili is not for lack of evidence.
After considerable delay, the Georgian Government did commence on January 25 legal proceedings for two mob attacks. However, considering the minor charges being brought and the poor handling of the case, I fear Mkalavishvili and other extremists will only be encouraged to continue their attacks, confident of impunity from prosecution.
Since the initial hearing in January of this year, postponement of the case has occurred four times due to Mkalavishvili's mob, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, overrunning the Didube-Chugureti District Court. Mkalavishvili's marauding followers brought wooden and iron crosses, as well as banners with offensive slogans. Mkalavishvili himself even threatened the lawyers and victims while they were in the courtroom. With police refusing to provide adequate security, lawyers filed a motion asking for court assistance, but the judge ruled the maximum security allowed would be 10 policemen, while no limit was placed on the number of Mkalavishvili's followers permitted in the courtroom. In contrast, the Ministry of Interior has reportedly provided more than 200 police and a SWAT team to protect officials of its office when Mkalavishvili was brought to trial under different charges.
Certainly, the Georgian Government could provide adequate security so that its judicial system is not overruled by vigilante justice. Unfortunately for all Georgians, the anemic government response is indicative of its inability or worse yet, its unwillingness to enforce the law to protect minority religious groups.
As is clearly evident, Georgian authorities are not taking effective steps to deter individuals and groups from employing violence against Jehovah's Witnesses and other minority faiths. With the ineptitude of the justice system now well known, Mkalavishvili has brazenly and publicly warned that the attacks will not cease.
Religious intolerance is one of the most pernicious human rights problems in Georgia today. Therefore, I call upon President Eduard Shevardnadze to take action to end the violence against religious believers, and prevent attacks on minority religious communities. Despite the meetings he held with the various faith communities intended to demonstrate tolerance, Georgian Government inaction is sending a very different message. Tbilisi's pledge to uphold the rights of all believers and prosecute those who persecute the faithful must be followed by action.
As a member of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, I urge President Shevardnadze to do whatever is necessary to stop these attacks, and to honor Georgia's OSCE commitments to promote and ensure religious freedom without distinction. The Georgian Government should take concrete steps to punish the perpetrators through vigorous prosecution.
Source: Proceedings and Debates of the 107th Congress, Second Session (Vol. 148, Washington, 26 April, 2002, No 47)
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Georgian priest on the rampage
An extremist Georgian priest is continuing to attack and intimidate his enemies, even as he faces criminal proceedings
By Giorgy Lomsadze in Tbilisi
Institute for War and Peace Reporting CRS No 126 (25.04.2002)/ HRWF (30.04.2002) - Email info@hrwf.net - Website http://www.hrwf.net - The prosecution of Father Basili Mkalavishvili has not stopped the renegade Georgian priest and his supporters - wielding clubs, crosses and bibles - from continuing their campaign of violence against religious minorities and human rights observers.
On April 22, hundreds of Father Basili's followers surrounded and threatened foreign observers trying to take notes at the district court in Tbilisi where the cleric is being tried. The trial was adjourned until May 16, due to the non-appearance of the prosecutors.
Mkalashvili is being prosecuted for a string of violent attacks on Georgian religious groups, human rights campaigners and media organisations. His most frequent victims have been Jehovah's Witnesses, who have recorded more than 80 violent assaults against them over two and a half years, with more than a thousand of their followers suffering injuries.
Yet Mkalavishvili himself continues to behave with supreme self-confidence, apparently because of support from within the law enforcement agencies meant to be curbing him.
"I'll do my utmost to prevent anti-Orthodox sects taking root in Georgia," Mkalavishvili told IWPR. "The forces of the Antichrist around the world have united to call down the rule of Satan in this country." The priest, who has been excommunicated from the Georgian Orthodox Church, blamed "dishonesty and corruption" amongst clergymen for driving believers away from the country's main faith. Father Basili's notoriety began on October 17, 1999, when he led a violent mob of around 200 people, who stormed a private compound, where 120 Jehovah Witnesses had gathered for a meeting. The intruders beat the worshippers with iron crosses and wooden clubs. Sixteen people needed hospital treatment, while Fati Tabagari, a mother of two, suffered permanent damage to one eye.
Although a videocassette of the attack was later shown on television and seventy victims applied to the prosecutor's office, no official reaction followed.
For his enemies, the priest cuts a frightening figure. He is in his fifties, tall and well built, with a large greying beard and big green eyes. Although poorly educated, he is skilled at quoting the bible and has a knack of speaking to a crowd, which he does more like a military commander than a parish priest.
The attacks he leads follow a similar pattern. Father Basili and his supporters, carrying clubs and icons, storm into a property. After destroying the religious literature and insulting the worshippers, both verbally and physically, they threaten them with more beatings should they arrange their prayer meetings again.
As well as Jehovah's Witnesses, their targets have included Evangelists, Pentecostalists, Baptists, a prominent local NGO, the Liberty Institute, the United Bible Society, the respected Rezonansi newspaper and the office of government ombudswoman Nana Devdariani.
Critics say that some policemen, far from cracking down on the lawless priest, have been protecting him. "When I received the complaints from Jehovah's Witnesses I talked to the then police chief Soso Alavidze," said Elene Tevdoradze, chairwoman of the parliamentary committee for human rights.
"He promised to heighten security at Jehovah's Witnesses meetings and asked for the addresses of these places. I took all the addresses from Jehovah's Witnesses and passed them over to Alavidze. However, no safety measures were taken to protect the victims of the attacks and the list I gave the police chief ended up in hands of Mkalavishvili."
When Father Basili finally appeared in court on January 25 this year, he used the occasion to pursue his campaign further, addressing the judge through a megaphone. A restraining order was issued against the priest. It restricts him from leaving Tbilisi, but he ignored it.
The US-based group Human Rights Watch, which attended most of the proceedings, complained in a letter to President of Georgia Eduard Shevardnadze that the conduct of the trial "has served to further intimidate and humiliate victims of religious mob violence". The organisation said the court officials had "turned a blind eye" to open assaults on journalists and observers at the trial in August 2000.
In the mean time, attacks against religious minorities have continued. A crowd of nearly hundred people led by Mkalavishvili blocked a thoroughfare in one Tbilisi suburb and set up their own checkpoint. The crowd filtered traffic, seeking cars and buses taking Jehovah's Witnesses to a planned convention in the southern Georgian town of Marneuli. Those found were savagely beaten and their vehicles damaged.
On the day his trial opened, Mkalavishvili led more than one hundred of his supporters in an assault on Television Company Stereo One. The attackers threatened to destroy the studio unless it ceased broadcasting a religious discussion programme which had been produced in association with an Evangelical Protestant Church. The company acquiesced to the protestors' demands.
Christian Presber, the Jehovah's Witnesses' spokesman in the Caucasus, said that Father Basili was acting with impunity because of top-level support. "We have heard from various credible human rights organisations that this whole campaign is a part of a plan put together by particular fascist-oriented forces in the Georgian government," he said. "They have initiated paper investigation of these attacks by this defrocked priest but they don't really ever take any actions against him."
Father Basili was unapologetic. "As you know there is an ongoing trial," he said. "I warned that the Lord wouldn't tolerate oppression of the Church and two weeks after I said this an earthquake shook Georgia (a reference to a moderately strong earthquake that occurred in Tbilisi on April 11). If they don't stop persecuting me, there will be another much bigger earthquake that will flatten Tbilisi."
Although the Georgian Orthodox Church has dissociated itself from the persecution of other religious groups and the patriarch Ilya II has called for an end to the violence, there is evidence that it is continuing because of public support. There have been some reports of priests in the provinces leading their parishioners in violent attacks on non-Orthodox believers.
Many Georgians fear that the new Christian sects are undermining their traditional church. "Faith has always been the key agent to save Georgia through the critical turns of its history," said Tamila Katamadze, a schoolteacher. "Although I don't sympathise with Father Basili's aggressive forms of fighting, I believe there should be a law banning Jehovah's Witnesses as well as other active cults from converting people." On the other hand, many other Georgians have raised their voices in protest against the violence. More than 130,000 citizens mostly of the Orthodox faith signed a petition calling the government to stop the violent campaign against religious minorities. In response to international pressure from the US government, the Council of Europe and others, President Shevardnadze stated that he would hold a special meeting on this issue soon.
Giorgy Lomsadze is a reporter with Georgia Today newspaper
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Trial of Mkalavishvili postponed due to absence of Prosecutor
JW Office Tbilisi (23.04.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (24.04.2002) Email info@hrwf.net - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - The criminal case of renegade priest Vasili Mkalavishvili and his codefendant Petre (Gia) Ivanidze, scheduled to take place yesterday at 2:00 p.m. in the Didube-Chughureti District Court once again failed to proceed. The case has been postponed until May 16, 2002 as Prosecutor Abashidze failed to appear. The Court gave no reason for his absence.
As usual, the victims and their lawyers were left unprotected in the courtroom filled with approximately 100 followers of Vasili Mkalavishvili. Many of them were armed with wooden and iron crosses and only 6 security police were present to preserve order. Those exiting the courtroom were faced with a mob of Mkalavishvili's followers waving flags, banners and using bullhorns to encourage the mob to fight against those of other faiths.
All requests, including a written appeal two months ago to the Chairman of the Tbilisi Dighomi Appeal Court, David Sulakvelidze, to guarantee civilized conditions and to strengthen security in the courtroom remain unanswered to this day. The situation stands in stark contrast to a trial involving other charges against Mkalavishvili that took place a few weeks earlier, where the Ministry of the Interior, the Gldani-Nadzaladevi Prosecutor's Office, and the Tbilisi Appeal Court deemed it necessary to guarantee their own safety with 200 policemen and a SWAT team.
Contact numbers in Georgia:
Telephone: +(995) (32) 76-23-5, Facsimile: +(995) (32) 76-95-98
English-speaking: +(995) (99) 554-892
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Religious extremists in Georgia continue attacks with impunity
JW Office Tbilisi (08.04.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (17.04.2002) - Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net A mob of around 25 religious extremists armed with clubs and an axe attacked a meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses on 8 April at around 1 p.m. in the Ponichala region of Tbilisi. The attackers assaulted some in attendance, ransacked the private home where the meeting was being held, and made off with religious literature and personal belongings of the owner. Victims identified a known follower of renegade priest Vasili Mkalavishvili among the attackers, Vakhtang Dadunadze, who has been captured on videofootage participating in other brutal attacks. Also identified was Malkhaz Gorgaslidze, a representative of the ultra-Orthodox extremist organization, "Jvari." After learning that followers of Mkalavishvili were involved in the attack, police initially refused to attend. When they finally arrived, they derided the victims, asserting they should not conduct such religious meetings.
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Court silent on security measures at Mkalavishvili trial today
Georgia Office of Jehovah's Witnesses (12.04.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (12.04.2002) - Website: www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - The Didube-Chughureti City Court has failed to indicate what security measures will be in place to protect eyewitnesses and victims at the criminal trial of renegade priest Vasili Mkalavishvili and his codefendant Petre (Gia) Ivanidze, due to be heard today at 2:00 p.m. They are being charged in connection with mob attacks on religious minorities.
In previous attempts to get this trial underway, a lack of security prevented victims from attending as hundreds of followers of Mkalavishvili flooded the courtroom. International observers have reiterated that the victims' personal safety is paramount and that present conditions in the courtroom amount to their further victimization. They also fear that this strategy is being deliberately employed so as to obtain a verdict of not guilty for the defendants, as the victims will not be able to testify under such conditions.
"The Georgian government and the international community are aware of the danger to the victims. These same individuals and their followers have commandeered courtrooms on previous occasions and assaulted those in attendance," stated John Burns, an international human rights lawyer monitoring the trial and himself a victim in such a courtroom attack. "It is noteworthy that the Ministry of the Interior, the Gldani-Nadzaladevi Prosecutor's office, and the Tbilisi Regional Court saw fit to provide 200 security police and a SWAT team to protect themselves from these same individuals at a trial on different charges. This sets the standard. The questions is, Why is it not now being applied in this trial regarding the attacks on religious minorities?"
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Religious extremists in Georgia continue attacks with impunity
HRWF International Secretariat (08.04.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.netA mob of around 25 religious extremists armed with clubs and an axe attacked a meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses yesterday at around 1 p.m. in the Ponichala region of Tbilisi. The attackers assaulted some in attendance, ransacked the private home where the meeting was being held, and made off with religious literature and personal belongings of the owner. Victims identified a known follower of renegade priest Vasili Mkalavishvili among the attackers, Vakhtang Dadunadze, who has been captured on videofootage participating in other brutal attacks. Also identified was Malkhaz Gorgaslidze, a representative of the ultra-Orthodox extremist organization, "Jvari." After learning that followers of Mkalavishvili were involved in the attack, police initially refused to attend. When they finally arrived, they derided the victims, asserting they should not conduct such religious meetings.
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Criminal trial of V. Mkalavishvili postponed again
HRWF (14.02.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - The criminal trial of Vasili Mkalavishvili and his co-defendant Petre (Gia) Ivanidze was again to commence at 2:00 p.m. today. However it was postponed until 2:00 p.m., February 27, 2002. A lawyer for the victims was present. The defendants did not appear. In both previous attempts to get the case underway, hundreds of followers of Mkalavishvili carrying wooden and iron crosses and banners with offensive slogans flooded the courtroom and the exterior of the building. In advance of the last two hearings, lawyers for the victims filed a motion requesting that proper security be provided and that potential weapons and offensive banners be banned from the courtroom. In a bizarre ruling, and with disregard to European Court precedent, Judge Ioseb Chkheidze of the Didube-Chughureti City Court ruled that a maximum of 10 security police were to be present. Furthermore he would not place a limit on the number of Mkalavishvili's mob that may enter the courtroom. They would also be permitted to continue to bring their crosses and banners. Lawyers for the victims declared their intention to appeal the ruling and advised victims and witnesses not to appear. The absence of the victims in the courtroom on February 5, 2002 was deliberately misconstrued as the reason why the trial could not commence. Police constables have even visited victims at their homes and, despite the conditions in the courtroom, tried to force them to sign a statement that they would attend the proceedings. International observers have reiterated that the victims' personal safety is paramount, and that present conditions in the courtroom amount to their further victimization.
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Patriarchate "astonished" at bishop's execution call
Keston News Service (14.02.2002) / HRWF (14.02.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - The deputy head of the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate's press office has condemned remarks made on television by the second most senior Orthodox bishop that all "sectarians" in Georgia should be "killed". "The Patriarchate does not share at all these views," Zurab Tskhovrebadze told Keston News Service from Tbilisi on 13 February. "We were astonished and didn't expect such remarks from Metropolitan Atanase." The deputy justice minister told Keston that he was unaware of the metropolitan's remarks, but stressed that religious intolerance "is not acceptable to the Georgian government". The head of the Baptist Union, who also appeared on the program, described the metropolitan-s remarks as "incredible", adding that he now expects an escalation of violence against religious minorities.
Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org
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Religious extremists avoid prosecution through intimidation
HRWF (06.02.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - The criminal trial of renegade priest Vasili Mkalavishvili and Petre (Gia) Ivanidze, which was scheduled to begin at 14:00 on 5th February in the Didube-Chughureti court, has been postponed after Mkalavishvili and his followers invaded the courtroom. Before the hearing began, a mob of about three hundred, mostly men, armed with metal and wooden crosses, tried to invade the courtroom. Many entered and occupied areas reserved for attorneys as they rang their religious bell and waved large anti-Jehovah's Witness banners.
As the victims' attorneys made their way through the mob to Judge Ioseb Chkheidze's chambers, they overheard security police being ordered away from the scene. The courtroom was left with no security. Attorneys explained to Justice Chkheidze that under these circumstances it was impossible to proceed with the trial as it was too dangerous for the victims or their attorneys to attend. Furthermore, a fair trial could not be held under such circumstances. The judge agreed and postponed the trial.
This is the second attempt to proceed in court against Mkalavishvili and Ivanidze. The first time, on January 25, 2002, the prosecutor failed to appear and the case had to be postponed. The same day, Mkalavishvili led his followers in another attack. His mob kept personnel of television station Stereo One under siege in their building, for one and a half hours, threatening to burn it down if the station did not stop broadcasting a non-Orthodox religious program. A few days later, on February 3, 2002, he led a mob of 150 to raid the warehouse of the Baptist Church, burning thousands of Bibles and religious literature. In spite of these events State authorities refuse to arrest the religious extremists and the reign of terror continues.
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Patriarchate condemns Bible burning priest
Keston News Service (04.02.2002) / HRWF (05.02.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - Metropolitan Daniil Datuashvili of the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate has condemned the Bible-burning in Tbilisi yesterday (3 February) by Father Basil Mkalavishvili, a priest of the Greek Old Calendarist Church. "We are demanding that the government takes immediate, serious measures to arrest all those who took part," he told Keston News Service from Tbilisi on 4 February. The Georgian Baptist Union told Keston that at about 1 PM on 3 February a group of about 150 people arrived at the Union's warehouse in three large buses, led by Mkalavishvili, turned the warehouse upside-down and destroyed thousands of books. The role of the private television company Rustavi 2, which arrived filmed the attack, has been questioned.
Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org
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Postponed trial of violent priest imminent
Keston News Service (04.02.2002) / HRWF (05.02.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - The much-delayed trial of the violent Old Calendarist priest Basil Mkalavishvili and his main accomplice, Petre (Gia) Ivanidze, is finally due to begin tomorrow (5 February) at 2 p.m. at the Didube- Chugureti court in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Jehovah's Witness sources in Tbilisi told Keston News Service that the previous scheduled hearing, due to have taken place on 25 January, had been postponed as the prosecutor notified Judge Ioseb Chkheidze that he was unable to appear at the time set by the court. It remains unclear whether the raid yesterday (3 February) on the Baptist Union's warehouse and burning of thousands of Bibles (see separate KNS article) was a deliberate snub to the court or simply part of Mkalavishvili' s continuing campaign against religious minorities.
Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org
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Tract exposing religious violence being distributed Georgia-wide
Caucasus Press (en-edit@caucasus.net) 29.01.02 / HRWF (31.01.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - From Batumi to Lagodekhi thousands of copies of a tract are being distributed throughout Georgia exposing the vicious mob attacks on religious minorities over the last two years. Since the mob attacks are not the work of population at large, but carried out by a small number of religious extremists, Jehovah's Witnesses are distributing the tract to alert Georgian citizens to the facts.
At the same time a seven-page article in the Awake magazine containing more detailed information on the continuing mob attacks against religious minorities has been issued. Awake is published in 87 languages including Georgian with an average of more than 20,000,000 copies.
There have been over 100 documented attacks on religious minorities resulting in serious concussions and contusions for hundreds of victims, even children, the elderly, and the disabled and pregnant women beaten. Not only have the police failed to arrest the well-known perpetrators, but also eyewitnesses. Victims report that police have supported and abetted such attacks. Almost one year ago a petition requesting that those engaging in such violence be stopped was signed by over 133,000 citizens of Georgia and presented to the president.
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Prosecutor unable to appear in trial on mob attacks
www.jw-georgia.org(26.01.2002)/ HRWF (28.01.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - The trial of renegade priest Vasili Mkalavishvili and his main accomplice, Petre (Gia) Ivanidze, was postponed yesterday as the prosecutor notified the judge that he was unable to appear at the time set by the court.
Judge Ioseb Chkheidze, presiding over the trial in the Didube-Chughureti court, ordered the parties to return on Tuesday, February 5, 2002, at 2:00 p.m.
No sooner had the session ended when Mkalavishvili and his band began verbally abusing and threatening victims present as well as their lawyers. Many of those present in the courthouse were identified by victims as having participated in mob attacks. Later Mkalavishvili and his adherents held a demonstration where religious minorities in Georgia were denounced and lavish praise heaped upon the assaults and beatings inflicted upon them.
After over two years of more than one hundred documented violent mob attacks against religious minorities largely carried out by the same small band of extremists, not one perpetrator has ever been arrested although their identities are well known to the Police.
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Freedom of religious expression threatened by the Basilists
From Emil Adelkhanov for Human Rights Without Frontiers
HRWF (28.01.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net -On 25 January, two messengers of ultra-orthodox Father Basil Mkalavishvili came to the independent TV studio Stereo One and asked insistently to stop broadcasting a daily programme of a Protestant church commenting on the Bible.
As the studio had already received a similar visit with a harsh ultimatum a week before, the staff called the police. The latter ousted the guests but soon a crowd of their fellows gathered outside the building, expressing their intention to destroy the "satanic" computers. The guards of the building, which shelters the studio, the Institute of Geophysics and several NGOs, had to lock the iron door. The siege lasted for an hour and a half; then the "Basilists"left, threatening to raze the studio to the ground, if it did not stop broadcasting the programme.
The meeting was shown by the independent TV Rustavi-2 on the same day.
The commercial director and one of the founders of the studio, Paata Mchedlishvili, said the Basilists first came with similar demands a few months ago but they made a compromise: they shifted the programme from the evening to 7.30 am. However, the claims are now stronger and it is the freedom of religious expression for all minority groups that is now threatened.
Emil Adelkhanov,
CIPDD
Contact phones in Tbilisi:
995 32 33 35 06: Zurab Chelidze, director, Stereo One
995 32 33 40 81, 995 32 33 41 63 (off.), 995 77 42 56 94
(mobile): Emil Adelkhanov, CIPDD
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"No action" in wake of attack on Pentecostals
Keston News Service (11.01.2002)/ HRWF (14.01.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - Members of the Word of Life Pentecostal Church, human rights activists and some politicians have complained about the failure of the police or prosecutor's office to take any action so far in the wake of last month's attack on a Word of Life service in a cinema in the centre of the Georgian capital Tbilisi.
The mob raid - the latest in a long series of attacks on minority religious communities dating back to 1999 - was led by Basil Mkalavishvili, a defrocked priest of the Orthodox Church who enjoys de facto immunity from prosecution for his violent raids. "They must be arrested," the church's pastor insisted to Keston. "It's not a question of religious freedom but of hooliganism. Such hooligan gangs should not be allowed to exist."
"Basil Mkalavishvili should be arrested immediately for violating the law and citizens' rights," Elena Tevdoradze, chair of the Georgian parliament's human rights committee told Keston News Service from Tbilisi on 11 January, three weeks after Mkalavishvili led a violent raid on a Protestant service (see separate KNS article). "It is very strange that he has not been arrested already." Tbilisi's chief prosecutor told Keston on 11 January that the case against Mkalavishvili and one of his closest associates was completed last October and has been sent to the court of Tbilisi's Didube-Chugureti district. No date has yet been named for a trial.
Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org
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