From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Fri Nov 22 2002 - 15:43:48 EST
KESTON INSTITUTE, OXFORD, UK ______________________________________
KESTON NEWS SERVICE, 20.00, 22 November 2002.
Reporting on violations of religious liberty and on religion in communist
and post-communist lands. ______________________________________
GEORGIA: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS
CHALLENGE TO CONCORDAT. Georgia's Constitutional Court has
today (22 November) refused to hear a challenge to the constitutionality
of the recently-adopted constitutional agreement, or concordat, between
the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate and the state. The complaint was
lodged by the True Orthodox Church which, under the agreement, now
has to have permission from the Orthodox Patriarchate to conduct any
kind of religious activity. Despite this, a Constitutional Court official has
claimed that "there was no proof that the rights of the plaintiff would be
harmed." The True Orthodox Church has vigorously rejected that claim. Georgia's
True Orthodox Church - one of a number of non-Patriarchate
Orthodox jurisdictions in the country - rejects violence and has no links
with the violent priest Father Vasili Mkalavishvili now on trial in Tbilisi
(see KNS 4 November 2002), who is under the jurisdiction of a Greek
Old Calendarist bishop.
GEORGIA: CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REJECTS
CHALLENGE TO CONCORDAT
by Felix Corley, Keston News Service
Georgia's Constitutional Court has today (22 November) refused to hear
a challenge to the constitutionality of the recently-adopted constitutional
agreement, or concordat, between the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate
and the state. The complaint was lodged by a leading priest of the True
Orthodox Church which, under the agreement, now has to seek
permission from the Orthodox Patriarchate to conduct any kind of
religious activity. "There were many reasons for rejecting the challenge,"
a Constitutional Court official told Keston News Service from the
Georgian capital Tbilisi on 22 November. "The most important was that
there was no proof that the rights of the plaintiff would be harmed." The
True Orthodox priest who lodged the complaint, Fr Zurab Aroshvili, has
vigorously rejected that claim.
The controversial concordat was signed by Patriarch Ilya and President
Eduard Shevardnadze in Mtskheta on 14 October. It was approved by the
Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church on 17 October and ratified by
parliament on 22 October (see KNS 23 October 2002).
The three-page complaint against the concordat, drawn up with the help
of lawyers from the Tbilisi-based legal aid group Article 42 and signed by
Fr Zurab, was lodged with the Constitutional Court on 4 November (see
KNS 13 November 2002). The complaint singled out for criticism Article
6 part 6 of the concordat, which declares: "With the consent of the
Church [the Orthodox Patriarchate], the State issues permits or licenses
for the use of official symbols and terminology of the Church, as well as
for the production, import and distribution of worship articles." An
appendix gives a wide definition of the term "worship articles" to include
churches, books, candles and other items.
"Article 6:6 of the Constitutional Agreement is unconstitutional with
regard to the article 19 of the Georgian Constitution, as it revokes my
right to practice my beliefs and religion, guaranteed by the same article of
the Constitution and persecutes me for my beliefs and religion," the
complaint declared. "In this case, the inability to call myself 'Orthodox'
without a licence should be understood as persecution."
Aleksandr Kuliashvili, a lawyer at Article 42 who has been involved with
the True Orthodox legal challenge, reported that the oral verdict of the
Constitutional Court was "vague and confused". "They gave very
unspecific reasons today," he told Keston from Tbilisi on 22 November.
"They will have to give full reasons in the written judgment."
The Constitutional Court official - who refused to give her name -
believed the court had made the "right decision". She claimed the
concordat deals only with the rights of the Georgian Orthodox
Patriarchate ("our Church", as she called it) and therefore could not
restrict the rights of adherents of other faiths. "People only need
permission if they're using the terminology of our Church," she declared,
"but they can use the terminology of other churches. If you use my
terminology, you have the obligation to ask my permission."
Fr Zurab rejected this argument. "The court said the agreement solely
affected the relation between the Patriarchate and the state and that we
were not affected," he told Keston from Tbilisi on 22 November. "That's
a lie." He said under the agreement, his Church could do nothing without
permission from the Patriarchate. "We can't have churches, teach our
faith or publish literature without their permission. It is not right to have
to ask permission from another religious community. In any case, they
won't give it to us."
However, Fr Zurab was not surprised by the court ruling. "They don't
want to consider our case," he maintained. "They had a political
instruction not to." He said his Church - which has three parishes in
Georgia and one monastery - is now considering filing a case at the
European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, to which Georgia is
subject as a member of the Council of Europe.
The Constitutional Court official said the written judgment in the case
would be handed down "in the next five or seven days" and would be
published in the government journal.
The Constitutional Court hearing on the True Orthodox challenge began
on 19 November with a panel of four judges. Lia Mukhashavria,
executive director of Article 42, presented the Church's case. Father Gela
Aroshvili - a priest of the Church and brother of Father Zurab - told
Keston on 20 November that the court had been "very tendentious" in its
handling of the case. "It is as if the Patriarchate was conducting it." The
case was then adjourned until 22 November.
Georgia's True Orthodox Church - one of a number of non-Patriarchate
Orthodox jurisdictions in the country - is under the jurisdiction of
Metropolitan Ephraim, who is based in Boston in the United States. The
True Orthodox Church rejects violence and has no links with the violent
priest Father Vasili Mkalavishvili now on trial in Tbilisi (see KNS 4
November 2002), who is under the jurisdiction of a Greek Old
Calendarist bishop. (END)
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