Jehovah’s Witnesses

For Immediate Release
June 2, 2003

Police actions against Jehovah’s Witnesses in Georgia continue

GORI, Georgia—On June 1, uniformed police with handguns entered private property where a religious convention of about 600 Jehovah’s Witnesses was in progress in Gori. Amateur video shows the chief of the criminal section of Gori police, Levani Chokheli, taking the stage and ordering the meeting to stop. Those in attendance departed after police ordered them to leave.

One day earlier, on May 31, police in plain clothes stopped large buses, minibuses and personal vehicles from entering private property where another religious convention was planned for about 700 Jehovah’s Witnesses in the Aspindza Region of Georgia.

In that instance, the governor of the Aspindza Region, Anzor Sandroshvili, took the stage of the convention and ordered those assembled to leave the site. Eyewitnesses believed that Governor Sandroshvili threatened further action if those in attendance did not depart.

Council of Europe representatives who were meeting in Thilisi were informed of the action the same day by Georgian attorney Manuchar Tsimintia. On May 3, Gori Region Governor, Zaza Koshadze, and Gori Region Police Chief, Rezo Kotiashvili, as well as other officials, ordered cancellation of a religious meeting planned on the same Gori site for hundreds of Jehovah’s Witnesses. On May 4, camouflage-uniformed police armed with machine guns entered the site.

The Office of General Counsel for Jehovah’s Witnesses is contacting Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and State Minister Avtandil Jorbenadze about the actions of Aspindza Region Governor Sandroshvili, Gori Region Governor Koshadze, and local police in both places.

Contact: J. R. Brown, telephone: (718) 560-5600