Civic Activist Nata Peradze Jailed for Defacing Stalin Icon
The Tbilisi City Court sentenced Nata Peradze, civic activist and founder of the “Talgha” (Wave) movement, to five days of administrative detention for throwing paint at the St. Matrona of Moscow icon depicting late Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in Tbilisi’s main Holy Trinity (Sameba) Cathedral.
On January 9 in an act of protest, Nata Peradze threw blue paint on the icon of St. Matrona and uploaded the photo on social media. Police said they had opened an investigation into this “act of petty hooliganism”. Peradze said she had received threats by phone and online and had contacted the police.
Following the incident in the Cathedral, on January 10, the ultra-conservative, anti-Western, pro-Russian and homophobic political party Conservative Movement / Alt Info led a group of angry demonstrators who gathered near Peradze’s residence.
At another rally on January 13 near the Parliament, the party’s leaders addressed the gathered crowd, saying that they “would not forgive the insult to the icon of St Matrona” and demanded that all those who they consider responsible be adequately punished.
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