PACE Co-Rapporteurs urge to punish persons responsible for incident on May 17 in Georgia

Boris Silevich and Martin Jensen, Co-Rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee, called on the Georgian authorities to punish the persons responsible for massive clashes that took place in Tbilisi on May 17.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on May 17, in Tbilisi, a rally of the LGBT community was to be held, which was broken by an opposite action and turned into mass clashes, and, according to the official information, 28 persons suffered during aggressive dispersion of the action.

The Co-Rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee believe that the particular attention should be paid to the fact that clashes involved representatives of the clergy.

"Such violence and deadly enmity should have no place in a democratic society. We especially regret in connection with involvement of clergymen in this violence, given the fact that the Georgian Orthodox Church enjoys the highest moral authority in the Georgian society. We hope that the Georgian leaders will punish all participants of the violence under the law," the "Georgia Online" quotes on May 27 the message of the Co-Rapporteurs of the PACE Monitoring Committee as stating.

Bidzina Ivanishvili, Prime Minister of Georgia, has emphasized that all Georgian citizens are equal before the law and the clergymen will be responsible for violation of law like other persons who had committed violence.

At the same time, according to his opinion, Georgians should conduct themselves with dignity with regard to their traditions and respect the traditions of other people.

"I promise that no one will be punished for the fact that he is different, for the freedom of opinion and expression," the "Radio Azattyk" quotes Bidzina Ivanishvili as saying.

Elias II, Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia, called the actions of priests "rude".

"The incident that occurred on May 17 is sad, and the ideas that someone wanted to implement in Georgia are totally unacceptable; however, it is also very sad that the Georgian clergy behaved very rudely. I want to call on everyone to remain calm: no one is allowed to insult others. Evil can be treated only by love and goodness," the "Tbilisi Week" quotes Patriarch as saying.

It is already known that the Patriarchate of Georgia will consider the suspension of rank of two priests who participated in the riots of May 17 Antimoz (Tamaz) Bichinashvili, Archimandrite of Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, and Jotham (Irakli) Basilaya, abbot of the convent of John-Tornike Eristavi, the "Ekho Kavkaza" (Echo of the Caucasus) reports.