TBILISI, Georgia, May 27, 2002 — The Rt Rev Malkhaz Songulashvili, Presiding Bishop of the Baptist Union of Georgia and the General Secretary of the United Bible Societies' office in Georgia, was forced to take urgent action after hearing rumours that followers of defrocked Georgian Orthodox priest Vasili Mkalavishvili were planning to attack one of his three offices in Tbilisi.
He called on President Eduard Shevardnadze's Chancellery and an influential university contact for help, and was able to arrange a guard for Bible Society staff, who were determined to remain at work. One staff member, Slava Meshki, said, "How can I leave? I have things here I have worked on for three years".
Bishop Songulashvili has also called for continued assistance from the international community in the face of threats to religious freedom in Georgia. In an e-mail to supporters abroad, he stated that "your prayerful support for the Republic of Georgia is much needed" as minority religious groups remain vulnerable to attack from Mr Mkalavishvili's followers.
Bible staff beaten last year
UBS staff were beaten up and many Scripture books and blankets destroyed in an attack by supporters of Mr Mkalavishvili in March 2000 and there have been a number of other attacks on minority religious communities, including an Evangelical church, a Pentecostal church and a warehouse owned by the Baptist Union. The perpetrators have so far managed to remain at large by intimidating those involved in the legal process.
President Shevardnadze, who has come under pressure from international sources including US senators and congressmen to address the issue of religious persecution urgently, has written a newspaper article in which he emphasises that "those who think that by fighting against other religions they are safeguarding the victory of the [Georgian Orthodox Church] are bitterly mistaken". He goes on to state that such people are in fact "fighting against the dignity of their own country and against the democratic development of their own country".
Mr Mkalavishvili's supporters remain undeterred, however, and have even protested outside the US Embassy in Tbilisi against what they regard as US interference in Georgia's religious affairs. Bishop Songulashvili, while welcoming the fact that the international community is showing concern, has emphasised that "there is still a very long way to go before the religious liberty of the individual is accepted and duly respected".
Source: United Bible Societies
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