Basil Mkalavishvili

Basil Mkalavishvili (Georgian: ბასილ მკალავიშვილი) – also known as Vasil Mkalavishvili (Georgian: ვასილ მკალავიშვილი) – is a laicized, Old Calendarist, Georgian Orthodox priest, the leader of the Basilist sect (Independent Eparchy of Gldani).

He was arrested on March 12, 2004[1] for having led a series of violent vigilante raids on minority religious edifices in Tblisi and other towns in Georgia, and was sentenced to six years in prison on January 31, 2005 for having carried out raids on Jehovah's Witnesses and Baptist-Evangelicals' churches[2] (Petre Ivanidze and Merab Korashinidze, who assisted Mkalavishvili, were given four and one years in prison, respectively). He had previously been sentenced to a three-month pre-trial detention on June 4, 2003 by a court in Tblisi.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Assailant Ex-Priest Arrested
  2. ↑ GEORGIA: Two leaders of religious violence finally sentenced – but what about the others?, By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
  3. ↑ International Religious Freedom Report 2002, Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor