Batumi Mayoralty refuses to recognize ban on construction of mosque as discrimination

A refusal to approve a construction of a mosque in Batumi is related not to discrimination against Muslims, but to the dense development of a place in question, the Batumi City Mayoralty states in its appeal against the court's decision which had obliged city officials to review their decision.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on September 30, 2019, the Batumi City Court considered a claim filed by the Muslim community and obliged the City Mayoralty to review its refusal to build a mosque. The court recognized the city officials' position as discriminatory towards Muslims.

On February 18, the Court of Appeal of Western Georgia began consideration of complaints about the court's decision filed by the Batumi City Mayoralty and the public organization "Batumi Mosque Construction Foundation".

In their appeal, officials from the Batumi City Mayoralty state that the decision to refuse to build a mosque is not of discriminatory nature, since it is connected with "infrastructure difficulties" in the area of the proposed development, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent has been informed by an official from the legal department of the Batumi City Mayoralty.

According to Tamta Mikeladze, the spokesperson for the "Centre for Training and Monitoring of Human Rights" in Adjara, the court obliged the City Mayoralty to provide the information on how many Christian churches had been built in the proposed area of Batumi and during what period, as well as to provide decisions concerning a construction of what facilities had been refused in the area in question.

Tamta Mikeladze also noted that the court gave the Batumi City Mayoralty three weeks to provide the documents requested.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 19, 2020 at 10:42 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.