An investigation by “Free Europe” gathered the testimonies of 5 ladies who have been victims of sexual assault by a high-ranking Georgian cleric over the previous ten years.
One of many ladies was fifteen years previous on the time. It’s concerning the Metropolitan of Akhalkalaki and Kumurdo Nikolay (Pachuashvili). That is the primary time that a number of ladies have publicly accused a high-ranking member of the Georgian Orthodox Church of sexual harassment.
4 sexual assaults described within the investigation passed off throughout youth sports activities expeditions in Javakheti, for which Metropolitan Nikolay was accountable. The camp was marketed as a possibility for a two-week trip when younger folks may assist the church buildings and monasteries of the Akhalkalak Diocese. “Contributors get to know the native tradition, architectural monuments, go on excursions, movie screenings are held… Participation within the expedition is free!”, says the camp’s commercial.
Solely one of many ladies, Lela Kurtanidze, has advised her story along with her title, as a result of she determined to file a lawsuit towards the senior cleric for sexual assault and abuse of workplace regardless of the passage of time. She claims: “I owe it to the handfuls of ladies who might discover themselves on this scenario.” The opposite 4 ladies within the investigation have advised their tales, however anonymously, and won’t press prices.
The lady, who was then nineteen years previous, claimed that she had a number of sexual relations with the clergyman, who was then forty-eight years previous. He was in a position to persuade her that it was “one other sort of religious connection that the others shouldn’t learn about.” After ten years, the younger girl managed to beat the shock of what occurred and acknowledged that, regardless of the expired statute of limitations, she wished to file a lawsuit towards the senior cleric. Immediately, she assesses his habits as a gross manipulation of his religious authority and energy within the diocese. The girl means that what occurred to her occurred to many different ladies.
The authors of the Free Europe investigation met with Metropolitan Nikolay (Pachuashvili) when three of the ladies’s interviews have been accomplished. He acknowledged that “an accusation which has not been lawfully examined is defamatory and accommodates the indicia of against the law, due to this fact it can’t take part within the dialogue of such defamation.” Ultimately, nonetheless, he agreed to speak to the journalists on the situation that they didn’t report the dialog. He admits that he knew one of many ladies and really taught her to swim throughout a summer season camp ten years in the past. He emphasizes that his engagement with this youth camp is with the “blessing of the Patriarch of Georgia”: “With the blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia, His Holiness Ilia II, since 2001 pupil expeditions have been held in Javakheti, through which a number of hundreds of younger folks. A lot of them are profitable and well-known folks right now. I nonetheless bear in mind lots of them, particularly those that participated within the first ten to fifteen years, after I straight led the expeditions.
Metropolitan Nicholas states that he selflessly helps many individuals and that is his obligation as a priest, and he’ll let his actions converse for his phrases. In reality, a variety of folks, together with one among his victims, confirmed to journalists that the senior cleric in query helped folks inside and out of doors the nation for coaching and therapy. “Nevertheless, this can’t be an indulgence for the hurt he has additionally inflicted on dozens of ladies and younger women,” mentioned one of many ladies.
The day earlier than the publication of the article, the publication notified the Metropolitan Nikolay additionally mentioned that journalists “take part in one thing dangerous and that plainly a wave has risen once more towards the Church, however might God decide the liar and the unrighteous.”
Specialists in prison regulation and church canonists commented to the media that there can be no church sanctions towards the accused hierarch. The Georgian Church has had a fee since 2011 to research such ethical points, nevertheless it doesn’t really meet. In 2021, a lot of supplies collected by the companies and compromising a variety of senior clerics have been leaked, however they remained with out penalties and never a single church case was filed on leaked info.