Church Denounces Violence, Shifts Responsibility to Pride Organizers

In a statement denouncing violence, Georgian Orthodox Church said it is a “very unfortunate fact” that people, including journalists, received injuries during yesterday’s anti-Pride rally, but argued that “responsibility must lie first of all with Tbilisi Pride organizers.”

The Church slammed late on July 5 Pride March organizers for planning the event “without taking into account the existing reality in the country,” as a result “putting Western values at great risk of discrediting.”

The planned event contained signs of “moral, psychological and ideological abuse against our populace and future generations, which would have definitely prompted a sharp response,” the Church claimed.

The Georgian Patriarchate went on to cite Article 10 Paragraph 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights which stipulates that the exercise of freedom of expression “since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others…”

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