(Tbilisi, December 18, 2002. Civil Georgia) – US Helsinki Commission members, who visited Georgia in October, claim that the Concordat between the Georgian state and the Georgian Orthodox Church, “in addition to the questionable legal status, lack both sovereignty and any international legal personality”.
President Shevardnadze and the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilya II, signed a concordat concretizing the church’s relationship with the state on October 14. The Georgian Parliament unanimously ratified the concordat.
“Foremost, the concordat creates an unbalanced playing field against other religious groups,” Helsinki Commission statement statement reads.
The Commission also expresses concern regarding the violence and other forms of harassment against certain religious groups and calls the Georgian authorities to arrest, prosecute and jail perpetrators.
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