Lawmaker Responds to Rumored Rift with Patriarch

Rumors of a heated argument between Giga Bokeria and Ilia II have been denied by both the ruling party MP and the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church. Bokeria said it was ?a blatant and dirty lie.?

Bokeria had, according to widespread speculation, asked the Patriarch to publicly back incumbent candidate Mikheil Saakashvili ahead of the presidential election. Ilia, so the story goes, refused, incensing Bokeria and leading eventually to the Patriarch?s security assaulting Bokeria.
 
?I want to comment on an unpleasant rumor, which has been in circulation for over a week or more. According to this rumor, I, on behalf of our political team, asked the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church to take political sides and that a scuffle even occurred as a result,? Bokeria told journalists on January 11. ?I want to say that every word of this rumor is a blatant and dirty lie. It is regrettable that such methods are sometimes used in politics. I think that using the Georgian Orthodox Church for political gains is dishonest; we all remember who was trying to do this not so long ago? ? a reference to a statement made by tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili.

In a written statement, the Georgian Orthodox Church also denied the rumor, saying that Bokeria hadn?t been to the Patriarch?s residence in some time.

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