(Tbilisi, September 7, 2002, Civil Georgia) – “The United States is deeply concerned with the lack of accountability for the continuing attacks by Orthodox extremist groups in Georgia on Jehovah’s Witnesses, Evangelical Christians, and the human rights advocacy groups defending them,” Douglas Davidson, the deputy chief of the U.S. Mission to the OSCE stated at the OSCE Permanent Council on September 5.
“There is no universal right more fundamental than the freedom to worship one’s God peacefully in the faith of one’s own choosing,” the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State quotes Douglas Davidson.
The dissident Christian Orthodox group led by excommunicated priest Basil Mkalavishvili is known for frequent violent attacks against the religious minorities, especial Jehovah’s Witnesses.