By Kostas Onisenko
The clouds are gathering over the Church of Georgia after the death of the cameraman Alexander (Lexo) Laskarava, who lost his life after the demonstrations that took place in Georgia on July 5.
Georgians staged a demonstration in Tbilisi, where, among other things, they accused the Church of their country of inciting hatred that led to the death of the cameraman.
Earlier, groups of people had mobilized to cancel the LGBT Pride scheduled to take place in Tbilisi.
On July 5, these individuals attacked journalists who were covering their mobilizations, injuring more than 50 media workers. One of the injured, Alexander Laskarava, finally died yesterday, July 11th.
So far the official causes of his death have not been announced. However, during the attack, he had broken the bone of his face.
According to sources in OrthodoxTimes from Georgia, the citizens accuse the Church of Georgia of morally inciting the specific death, as in the past the Church was speaking out against the “pride parade” while among the people who hit the journalists, according to local media, there was at least one priest.
As Marta Ardashelia, editor-in-chief of Georgia SOVA, an independent news website, describes in OrthodoxTimes, the social processes that began on the occasion of the cameraman’s death may go far beyond the Church and cause significant changes in Georgia’s political situation.
“We have seen a lot of violence in recent days in our country. Georgians are conservative people, but not to the extent that they see attacks on young people because they wear earrings.
Parents think that something like this can happen to their own children, so we see that a process of change has begun in both parliament and society as a whole,” said Ardaselia.
She pointed out that the prestige of the Church of Georgia, which is particularly high in Georgia, is expected to be severely damaged by this incident.
Another source close to the Georgian Church, speaking on condition of anonymity, told OrthodoxTimes that the ecclesiastical centers involved in the Pride protests were the same ones that have close ties to the Russian Church.
“They found a step on the same TV channel where all the extreme pro-Russian voices are heard. Where Dugin’s ideas are promoted,” the source commented.