E/CN.4/2004/63/Add.1 page 19 VII. RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION 97. The Special Rapporteur was told by a number of informants of the role played by the media in religious intolerance in Georgia, and of speeches and statements by politicians arousing religious hatred. 98. The press, especially the written press, in Georgia plays an influential role vis-à-vis the level of religious tolerance in the country. Part of it has become the self-appointed organ of the Orthodox Church, spreading messages which some regard as populist and describing religious minorities as so many “sects” prejudicial to Georgian society. One of the major complaints levelled at the press is the lack of training among reporters, who put about images of religious minorities that are often wrong. 99. Some prominent political figures put out statements that tend to uphold the Orthodox majority at the expense of religious minorities. Some even make statements that are overtly intolerant of certain religious minorities. The Special Rapporteur met one of these, the member of Parliament Guram Sharadze. Mr. Sharadze believes he is open to and tolerant of the religions traditionally established in Georgia and considers that he has fought all his life to enable the different religious communities to coexist harmoniously within the country. On the other hand, he says he is fighting tooth and claw against aggressive sects such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses which “force their way into churches”, “burn literature” and “smash crosses” or bring about the deaths of Georgian children with principles such as their ban on blood transfusions. Guram Sharadze still says that he is opposed to violence of any kind, and on this point parts company with Mkalavishvili. VIII. EDUCATION 100. The Special Rapporteur has been informed that many schoolchildren belonging to religious minorities, in particular Evangelists, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Baptists, have been threatened, insulted and physically assaulted at school because of their religion. Those responsible for such acts of intolerance are either other schoolchildren or teachers and principals at the schools concerned. 101. Against this background, and following a press article in which Basil Mkalavishvili supposedly called on the Minister of Education to “get rid of” members of the teaching profession who were Jehovah’s Witnesses, the teachers in one district of T’bilisi are said to have responded that they would spare no effort to “inculcate” proper Orthodox values into their pupils, and were emphatic within their own circles that renouncing orthodoxy was tantamount to renouncing one’s nationality. 102. It is also reported that many complaints of such religion-based persecution in schools have not only not been properly dealt with by the authorities but have even brought down additional reprisals upon the victims.