Government does not respond to persecution of Jehovah Witnesses

 Natia Gogolashvili 

Attacks on places of religious rituals, public pressure and violence, discrimination, harassment and abuse - the rights of Jehovah Witnesses in Georgia are still being violated. According to the report presented by the religious organization of Jehovah Witnesses, in 2013, there were 53 cases of violence against Jehovah's Witnesses. From January to August 2014,  25 facts of physical assaults were observed, among them one accident ended with the death of the victim person. 

Lawyer Manuchar Tsimintia underlines non-ethic approach to Jehovah Witnesses by law enforcement officers as one of the major problems. “Law enforcement officers intimidate witnesses and persecute them on religious grounds. Often they abuse our witnesses, blackmail, coerce them to get their testimonies, etc.  In most cases they cannot ensure prompt and effective investigation and just warn harassers,” Manuchar Tsimintia said and added that number of similar incidents has increased recently.

Gela Tatiashvili is member of Jehovah Witnesses community in Georgia. On November 4, 2014 when they conducted religious service in Birlik village of Gardabani district, local inhabitant verbally and physically abused him and other. Patrol police was called to the place and victims were taken to the station. Gela Tatiashvili said, the investigator intimidated during questioning. 

"During the whole interrogation, the investigator tried to oppress me and misinterpret facts.  He wanted to hide physical assault and religious motive of the incident. The investigator tried to coerce me to sign the fake testimony but I did not agree”, the explanation letter written by Gela Tatiashvili reads.

According to the lawyer Manuchar Tsimintia, the investigator shall conduct the investigation thoroughly, effectively and impartially. "Doing so, the police covers up criminals, and encourages crimes committed on religious grounds", Manuchar Tsimintia said. 

Lawyer Melano Gabiani clarified that law enforcement bodies do not want to record that the incident happened on religious grounds because it will be registered as violation of rights of religious minorities.  

Regarding the issue, the case was launched under article 156 of the Criminal Code, that refers to the persecution of a person based on his/her opinion, view, conscience, religion, or his/her political, public, professional, religious or scientific affilitation.

One more fact, which demonstrates non-ethic treatment of religious minorities by law enforcement officers, occurred in Aspindza. Jehovah Witness Lela Shvelidze was accused under Criminal Code Article 125, part one, which means "physical assault or other abuse". According to the accused person, her neighbor Zina Zedgenidze-Ninua attacked her at home and verbally and physically abused her. “She often scolds me for my religion and tells my children that my religious is not right way,” Lela Shvelidze said. Neighbors also confirm that Zina Ninua abuses the family of Shvelidzes. Zina Ninua claims that Lela physically abused her and is harassed by the family of Shvelidzes. There is only one direct witness in the case, who told Human Rights Center’s monitoring group, that he did not witness the incident and signed testimony in a drunken condition. 

"The case is studied by the court. Prosecutor’s office abused the victims. They humiliated them because of their religious affiliation. They offered derivation to the lady. The so called victim attacked Ms. Shvelidze in the courtroom too”, Manuchar Tsimintia said. 

Human Rights Center monitors court hearings into Lela Shvelidze’s case. The article was published on the subject (http://http://humanrights.ge/index.php?a=main&pid=18002&lang=eng). 

Beka Mindiashvili, chairman of the Center of Tolerance under auspice of the Public Defender’s office, said the Prosecutor’s Office does not see signs of persecution against Jehovah Witness in similar cases. “This year, we have learned about dozens of abuse facts against Jehovah Witnesses. In most cases, investigation was launched, but traditionally, the cases were either dropped, or dragged out, or prosecutor's office does not see signs of crime in them", Beka Mindiashvili said. 

One more problem about what Jehovah Witnesses complain about is that local governments do not allow them to construct worship houses. For example, chairperson of Terjola municipal board suspended the construction permit on the worship house. Manouchar Tsimintia said the decision was made as a result of the pressure from the Orthodox community in the municipality.

“Under oppression of orthodox clergymen and some members of their parish, Terjola municipal board chairperson suspended the construction permit. All norms of the Code are breached”, Manuchar Tsimintia said. 

Lawyer Tamta Mikeladze of the Human Rights Education and Monitoring Center (EMC) also indicates at the law violation in this particular case. She said local municipal board made illegal decision in favor of the Orthodox parish. "A private owner filed a complaint to the municipal board saying the ongoing construction of the Royal Hall damaged his property. The local municipality stopped the construction based on his/her appeal. It was illegal, because according to the law, the administrative complaint cannot automatically terminate the construction permission. There is conclusion of experts, which proves that construction did not damage the property. However, the decision was not made so far and the construction is stopped”, Tamta Mikeladze said.

According to the lawyer Melano Gabiani, abuse facts of Jehovah Witnesses became more frequent after the local authority terminated the building permit. "Everything was done to suspend the construction permit till the end of December, as the construction permit was due to the end of December and we will have to obtain new permit. Many people (orthodox) perceived the suspended constriction as a green light to abuse Jehovah Witnesses. They believed that Jehovah Witness do not have right to pray and build worship houses. As a result number of abuse facts against religious minorities has increased in Terjola district,” Melano Gabiani said. 

According to Jehovah Witnesses more frequently they are abused during religious services. 

On 17 June 2014, Jehovah Witnesses Bachana Janiashvili and Grigol Besiashvili worked on the construction in Kutaisi. People started to scold and insult them because of their religion. They punched Bachana Janiashvili in the face as a result of what his nose was broken and he was taken to hospital. On August 25, he was operated on. 3-4 hours later he had heart-attack and was connected to the artificial breathing apparatus. He deceased on August 29. The Court charged perpetrators under Article 120 of the Criminal Code (premeditated minor physical damage that led to brief minor disorder of health or general disability of the person) and fined him with 3,000 lari. 

Public Defender's Office monitors human rights situation of Jehovah Witnesses in Georgia. According to the 2013 Parliamentary report of the Ombudsman, the office received 17 applications from the Jehovah Witnesses religious organization. “8 of them refer to physical and verbal abuses of Jehovah Witnesses, 1 is about intimidation, 6 about the damage of the Royal Halls of Jehovah Witnesses and 2 about postponing alternative military service and dismissal of religious persons from the military service. Investigation was launched into 6 out of 8 cases under Article 156 (persecution), Article 155 (illegal interference into religious services), Article 125 (beating) of the Criminal Code of Georgia; in two cases the perpetrators were found guilty; perpetrators were fined in two cases launched under Article125 (beating) and Article 156 (persecution) of the Criminal Code,” the Public Defender's report reads. 

According to the lawyer Tamta Mikeladze of the EMC, according to the recent data from 2013-2014, the cases of violence against Jehovah Witnesses increased. The reason is the absence of political will to ineffectively investigate the incidents. 

"The state is repressive towards religious minorities. If the crime is committed by the religious majority groups, government does not conduct effective investigation into them, does not punish individuals, the process is prolonged. It is also important that MIA officers are often loyal towards intolerance.  The cases are investigated by the General Inspection of the MIA instead the prosecutor's office, which contradicts the principle of institutional impartiality. It should be noted, that the character of the violence also changed. Monitoring of the recent cases showed that violence has acquired public and collective nature”, Tamta Mikeladze said.

 

It is important that government adequately responded to the illegal facts against Jehovah Witnesses, and that law enforcement officers investigated cases under the articles related with the discrimination on religious grounds.