US 2021 International Religious Freedom Report: sources stated Russian church tacitly supported autocephalic ambitions of Georgia’s breakaway churches

US 2021 International Religious Freedom Report: says that “sources stated the Russian Orthodoc Church tacitly supported the autocephalic ambitions of Georgia’’s breakaway churches without seeking formal recognition of their autocephaly from the Georgian Orthodox church.” 

The report released on Thursday says that the de facto authorities in South Ossetia (Tskhinvali) declared GOC religious services illegal but permitted them in practice, while in another Russian-occupied Abkhazia region, the de facto authorities prohibited GOC clergy from entering the region. 

“Following the lifting of coronavirus restrictions, de facto authorities in Abkhazia and South Ossetia continued to restrict movement across the division line with the rest of Georgia.  Georgia’s State Agency for Religious Affairs (SARI) reported only five GOC clergy and one church remained operational in South Ossetia,” said the report. 

The report suggested that back In September, documents published on the internet and widely covered in the media appeared to show widespread surveillance by the State Security Service of religious leaders and others and their conversations with political officials, journalists, foreign diplomats, and others.  

It said that the government denied the legitimacy of the documents, while some religious leaders, journalists, and others affirmed them and said the surveillance had a chilling effect on religious freedom, as it confirmed their suspicion that the State Security Service was monitoring the activity of religious groups.  

“Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) criticized the government’s policy of granting blanket COVID-19 curfew exceptions for GOC holidays during the national lockdown from November 2020 to June 30, 2021, while requiring specific applications from all other groups seeking to celebrate religious holidays,” said the report.

The report stated that the Georgian government approved the registration of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Christian Organization in Georgia as a legal entity under public law during the year, while  it previously was registered as a noncommercial entity.  

“The government rejected the applications of six other Christian groups to be registered as legal entities under public law.  The NGO Tolerance and Diversity Institute (TDI) again stated that prosecutors continued to fail to indict individuals for religiously motivated crimes.” The report said that the  Parliament “again failed” to comply with a court order to end exclusive tax and property privileges granted to the GOC, or to extend those benefits to other religious groups.