From now on, clergy of all faiths in Georgia not exempt from military service

All clergy in Georgia must serve in the army

The Ministry of Defense of Georgia has developed a draft law according to which clergy of all denominations will be subject to military service.

Grigol Giorgadze, Deputy Minister of Defense of Georgia, announced the forthcoming change at a meeting with representatives of the State Agency for Religious Affairs and various religious confessions. The Deputy Minister presented the draft law to the clergy and talked about the reforms. According to the agency, Giorgadze paid special attention to a loophole that was in the previous version of the law allowing Georgian citizens to evade military service with the help of fictitious religious organizations.

“According to the draft, the priesthood is no longer a basis for deferment of conscription. The clergy will be given the opportunity to perform alternative service, the conditions of which are determined by the relevant legislation. Representatives of religious denominations expressed their views and proposals, which will contribute to the further development of mechanisms for use in legislation,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Discussion and adoption of the bill in Parliament is scheduled for the spring session.

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At a government meeting on December 12, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said that the loophole in the legislation would be eliminated and “dummy religious organizations” through which young men evaded the army would be closed. Garibashvili mentioned the closure of the Biblical Freedom organization, which was founded by the opposition Girchi party specifically so that young men may not serve in the army.

“This is a harmful, anti-national, anti-state method invented by Girchi, which actually confused the youth, making it possible to evade military service. We know very well that it was an organization that pretended to be religious. This was a real blasphemy, we could not turn a blind eye to this, and it was our duty to resolve this issue, which we did,” the Prime Minister said.

According to Garibashvili, this issue was discussed with the patriarchate and it “will be resolved once and for all.”

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“Christian, Evangelical, Protestant Church of Georgia – Biblical Freedom” is the name of a religious organization registered by the political movement Girchi in March 2017.

Since 2017 the organization has issued priest certificates to approximately 50,000 people. This document was the basis for young men not to serve in the army.

According to the legislation of Georgia, if a man has the status of priest or is a student at a theological seminary, he has the right to deferment from military service.

All clergy in Georgia must serve in the army