Letter to President Eduard Shevardnadze

Vasili Basishvili, a tenth-grade student at School No. 173 in Tbilisi, appears to have been harassed by the school's staff due to his religious affiliation. The broader context for the Basishvili case is rising intolerance for charismatic Christian faiths in Georgia. The February 22 Supreme Court decision upholding the deregistration of the Jehovah's Witnesses is an alarming development in this regard. In addition, an unmistakable pattern of impunity for recent vigilante attacks on non-Orthodox faiths suggests official tolerance of such violence.