Defrocked Extremist Priest Faces Pre-Trial Detention
(Tbilisi, June 11 2003, Civil Georgia) – The Tbilisi District Court rejected on June 10 appeal of the lawyers of defrocked Orthodox priest Basil Mkalavishvili, concerning the cancellation of the pre-trial detention warrant.
On June 4 the Vake-Saburtalo court sentenced Mkalavishvili to three month pre-trial detention. He faces charges of organized violence against Jehovah’s Witnesses and Baptist-Evangelists and burning their religious literature over a period of several years.
However the police could not arrest the extremist priest as his supporters prevented the police from taking Mkalavishvili in detention. Mkalavishvili has taken refuge in his church in Tbilisi.
On June 10 Mkalavishvili?s supporters held a protest rally in front of the Tbilisi District Court demanding cancellation of the arrest warrant.
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