Attack of Jehovah's Witnesses raises religious freedom issue in Georgia

Ken Stier: 8/20/02

One recent evening a mob of about 100 people in the eastern Georgian town of Kaspi sacked a house belonging to a local leader of Jehovah's Witnesses, aiming to disrupt the religious group's annual meeting. They set fire to the property, destroying much of the group's religious literature and damaging the stage and seats needed for the meeting. The rabble's violent tactics succeeded in forcing the cancellation of the Jehovah's Witnesses convention. But the attack has also reinforced the notion of Georgia being a state lacking effective leadership.

Top Georgian officials have publicly deplored the August 15 incident. President Eduard Shevardnadze has dutifully ordered an investigation, promising to prosecute those responsible. "I feel indignant over an incident which occurred in Kaspi [eastern Georgia] and generally over all the recent developments concerning religious issues in Georgia," the Iprinda news agency quoted Shevardnadze as saying August 19.

But some observers believe, based in part on past precedent, that the Georgian leadership will do little beyond voicing expressions of outrage. In addition, given that Georgia is buffeted by myriad sources of instability – including rampant corruption and tense relations with Russia [for background see the Eurasia Insight archives] – taking action against the nationalist elements believed responsible for the attacks could seriously weaken Shevardnadze's hold on power.

"On this issue [religious freedom], society is split in two, there is absolutely no consensus, and so to take sides is very risky for the president. So he keeps on the side and doesn't get actively involved," said Archil Gegeshidze, a senior fellow at the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies.

Jehovah's Witnesses have borne the brunt of the unchecked campaign of violence against non-traditional religious groups in Georgia for more than two years. According to a Jehovah's Witnesses statement, about 700 complaints concerning religious-bias harassment have been filed with authorities in recent years.

The group's representatives say they are not sure why they have been singled out for persecution. But some observers suggest the rapid growth of Jehovah's Witnesses has drawn the hostility of Georgia's traditional Christian Orthodox hierarchy and nationalist elements. Due in part to its high-profile proselytizing and distribution of religious literature, the group now has about 15,000 members – up from about 3,000 in 1992. It is among the largest Western-based religious movements now attracting converts in Georgia.

Many observers believe that supporters of ultra-nationalist MP Guram Sharadze could be responsible for the attacks. Sharadze's followers are already suspected of carrying out a raid on the Tbilisi-based Liberty Institute, which has been a vocal promoter of civil society in Georgia. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Sharadze, in an August 16 interview with Georgian television, denied involvement in the incident. "I am sorry for these people," Sharadze said. "They are our brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, neighbors and friends, but they have been misled." He went on to say that if Jehovah's Witnesses returned to the Christian Orthodox church "this would help them resolve many problems."

Defrocked Georgian Orthodox priest Vasili Mkalavishvili also has allegedly incited attacks against Jehovah's Witnesses. Mkalavishvili was indicted in September 2001 in connection with five attacks that occurred over a roughly one-and-a-half-year period, starting in 2000. The trial has been marked by numerous delays. Mkalavishvili's supporters have on at least one occasion overwhelmed the court, preventing the proceedings from getting underway.

The failure of Georgian authorities to crack down on religious violence, along with the inability to prosecute Mkalavishvili, serves as a source of tension in US-Georgian relations. The US embassy issued a statement August 16 deploring the most recent attack. Meanwhile, the religious repression prompted a group of 15 US legislators to send a critical letter to Shevardnadze in May. "Your government is not taking effective steps to deter individuals and groups from employing violence against minority faith communities," the letter said.

On the surface, Georgia seems an unlikely spot for religious violence. The country has a multi-ethnic tradition with a solid record of religious tolerance, and no history of pogroms. There is still a small Jewish community in Tbilisi even though it has dwindled to 10,000 in recent years mostly due to economic emigration. Georgia has also adopted some of the most progressive legislation among the Commonwealth of Independent States. Shevardnadze, likewise, has issued two decrees that, on paper, have strengthened punishments for religious-bias offenses.

Nevertheless, the attacks persist. Aside from the real question of just how much control Shevardnadze has over a police force – whose members' real livelihood does not come from the state budget, but from bribery – there is the political dimension.

"Georgia has the most progressive law but by allowing these attacks to continue unpunished, Georgia has indirectly become the most repressive state in the region – Russia is a paradise compared to Georgia," says Christian Presber, a spokesman for Jehovah's Witnesses.

The first Jehovah's Witnesses are believed to have appeared in Georgia during the late Stalin era. Many reportedly became converts in Stalin's Gulag prison camp network after they came in contact with Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned for their unorthodox beliefs. During the Soviet period clandestine meetings were held in homes and in forests. The number of believers grew slowly but steadily during the Communist period, totaling about 3,000 by the time of the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991.

The first years of independence were difficult for Jehovah's Witnesses in Georgia, as the country's first president, the ultra-nationalist Zviad Gamsakhurdia, sanctioned the harassment of the religious movement. Jehovah's Witnesses worshiped and proselytized relatively openly during the mid- and late-1990s, but the recent series of attacks is prompting many to resume meeting in secret.

"The worst is knowing that we should have freedom, but nowadays I still have to worry if my children are going to get beaten on their way to a meeting just because they are Jehovah's," said a Jehovah's Witness.

Lawyers working for the Jehovah's Witnesses say they expect an expedited hearing in the European Court this September of their first case against the Georgian Government for its inaction on religious harassment cases. Even if they win the case, representatives of Jehovah's Witnesses say they don't expect the decision will have an immediate impact on government policy. They cite the effort mounted by Jehovah's Witnesses in Greece, where it took 10 years of legal crusading to win official recognition. They expect the struggle to be similarly protracted in Georgia.

"It is terrible to have a government 100 percent against you, but at least it is a clearer what you are up against; now the government is not officially against us, but it is allowing others to do this [repression] for them," says Genadi Gudadze, a 40-year-old Jehovah's Witness.

Editor's Note: Ken Stier is a freelance journalist who has worked in several countries.

Posted August 20, 2002 © Eurasianet