Georgian Dream plans to toughen penalties for desecration of shrines
Georgia to toughen punishment for desecration of shrines
The Georgian Dream party is initiating legislative amendments to toughen criminal punishment for desecration of religious buildings and objects. This was announced by the head of the Legal Committee of the Georgian Parliament, Henri Okhanashvili.
According to him, the initiative was necessitated by the recent scandalous incident around the icon of Matrona of Moscow hanging in the main cathedral of Georgia Sameba, which also depicts Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. The icon was doused with paint.
On January 9, social activist Nata Peradze published a video showing an icon of St. Matrona of Moscow being doused with blue paint. The reason for this is probably the image of Joseph Stalin on the icon.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs opened a case under the article on petty hooliganism.
Information that an icon of St. Matrona of Moscow hangs in Sameba, where Joseph Stalin is also depicted, spread in social networks on January 6.
On January 10, aggressive members of the pro-Russian organization “Alt-Info” gathered near the house of civil activist Nata Peradze. The protesters insulted and threatened her. The police who arrived on the scene intervened in the situation.
“We intend to respond to what happened yesterday in Sameba, which caused a protest and strong emotions in the overwhelming majority of our society. Such unchristian behavior in the church and actions insulting to any religion, which create a real threat to incite conflict on religious grounds, are completely unacceptable to us […] Therefore, it is our direct duty to ensure proper protection of the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Georgian constitution in order to prevent insults to any religion,” Okhanashvili said.
According to him, the ruling party has already started studying the experience of the European Union countries and the approaches of the Strasbourg Court on the issue of punishment for desecration of shrines.
“Based on preliminary research, we already know that in many EU member states, religious insults, desecration of religious buildings and other similar actions are punishable with penalties up to criminal, including imprisonment […] Our team will soon initiate legislative amendments to toughen criminal liability for insulting religious buildings and objects. This applies to both Orthodox Christian and other religious objects, such as mosques, synagogues, Catholic and other temples,” Okhanashvili said at a briefing in Parliament.
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