Judge of Tbilisi Court of Appeal Leila Mamulashvili annulled the decision of the Bolnisi District Court according to which the financing of the local diocese of the Orthodox Church with the amount of 400,000 GEL from the budget of Marneuli was considered as discrimination.
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The City Hall of Marneuli appealed to the Court of Appeal with the request to annul the decision of the Bolnisi court. According to Mamuka Shubitidze, the head of the administrative service of the City Hall, on December 8 the judge announced the resolution part of the decision.
In 2019, The norm of the resolution of the city council, by which the Diocese of Marneuli and Hujab was receiving 400,000 GEL for „increasing the spirituality of the population“ from the local budget annually, was appealed by the non-governmental organization Social Justice Center, on behalf of the civil activist, Samira Bayramova, and the Supreme Spiritual Administration of All Muslims of Georgia. On July 1, 2022, Bolnisi City Court Judge Nino Giorgadze declared the mentioned norm invalid and found discrimination based on religion.
The District Court found that the Supreme Spiritual Administration of All Muslims of Georgia got a different treatment. However, the court indicated that any state action must be based on a secular objective, must not support any particular religion, and must not leave “an impression of excessive affiliation with religion.”
The decision of the district court of Bolnisi was a precedent, and if it remained in force, other municipalities would also have to refuse funding to dioceses.
Before the Tbilisi Court of Appeal annulled the decision of the District Court, the Marneuli Municipality's City Hall had already included the financing of the Diocese in the 2023 budget project.
In the last four years, Marneuli and Hujab Diocese received a total of 1,550,000 GEL from the local budget. The majority of the population of the municipality are ethnically Azerbaijani Muslims.
