18:45, 7 October 2020

Rights defenders claim discrimination of Muslims in Georgia

A collective namaz (prayer) in Batumi, May 24, 2020. The believers prayed not only in the mosque but also outside. Photo by Manana Kveliashvili, Batumelebi.netgazeti.ge

Muslims in Georgia are discriminated more often than adherents of other faiths, the NGO "Human Rights Training and Monitoring Centre" has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in May the "Institute for Tolerance and Diversity" stated that Georgian authorities were supporting the Georgian Orthodox Church, while the attitude towards other confessions is discriminatory.

In December 2019, a new Mufti of the Eastern Muslim Rule was elected. The election was held "non-transparent," which caused discontent among Muslims.

The Muslim community has also faced a ban on the construction of a new mosque in Batumi and could not open a boarding house in Kobuleti. During protests over the boarding house, community members faced discrimination on religious grounds.

In July 2015, rallies were held in Kobuleti against the work of the Muslim boarding house. In September 2016, three residents of Georgia were found guilty of discriminating Muslims. In May 2019, a complaint about oppressions of Muslims in Kobuleti was sent to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

"Over the past three years, there has been no positive dynamics in the sphere of religious freedom. There are the same earlier challenges in relation to the religious minority," Tamta Mikeladze, the head of the NGO, has noted.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on October 7, 2020 at 03:00 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Inna Kukudjanova

Source: CK correspondent