An investigation by “Free Europe” gathered the testimonies of five women who were victims of sexual assault by a high-ranking Georgian cleric over the past ten years.
One of the women was fifteen years old at the time. It is about the Metropolitan of Akhalkalaki and Kumurdo Nikolay (Pachuashvili). This is the first time that several women have publicly accused a high-ranking member of the Georgian Orthodox Church of sexual harassment.
Four sexual assaults described in the investigation took place during youth sports expeditions in Javakheti, for which Metropolitan Nikolay was responsible. The camp was advertised as an opportunity for a two-week vacation when young people could help the churches and monasteries of the Akhalkalak Diocese. “Participants get to know the local culture, architectural monuments, go on excursions, film screenings are held… Participation in the expedition is free!”, says the camp’s advertisement.
Only one of the women, Lela Kurtanidze, has told her story with her name, because she decided to file a lawsuit against the senior cleric for sexual assault and abuse of office despite the passage of time. She claims: “I owe it to the dozens of women who may find themselves in this situation.” The other four women in the investigation have told their stories, but anonymously, and will not press charges.
The girl, who was then nineteen years old, claimed that she had several sexual relations with the clergyman, who was then forty-eight years old. He was able to convince her that it was “another kind of spiritual connection that the others should not know about.” After ten years, the young woman managed to overcome the shock of what happened and stated that, despite the expired statute of limitations, she wanted to file a lawsuit against the senior cleric. Today, she assesses his behavior as a gross manipulation of his spiritual authority and power in the diocese. The woman suggests that what happened to her happened to many other women.
The authors of the Free Europe investigation met with Metropolitan Nikolay (Pachuashvili) when three of the women’s interviews were completed. He stated that “an accusation which has not been lawfully examined is defamatory and contains the indicia of a crime, therefore it cannot participate in the discussion of such defamation.” In the end, however, he agreed to talk to the journalists on the condition that they did not record the conversation. He admits that he knew one of the women and actually taught her to swim during a summer camp ten years ago. He emphasizes that his engagement with this youth camp is with the “blessing of the Patriarch of Georgia”: “With the blessing of the Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia, His Holiness Ilia II, since 2001 student expeditions have been held in Javakheti, in which several thousands of young people. Many of them are successful and famous people today. I still remember many of them, especially those who participated in the first ten to fifteen years, when I directly led the expeditions.
Metropolitan Nicholas states that he selflessly helps many people and this is his duty as a clergyman, and he will let his actions speak for his words. In fact, a number of people, including one of his victims, confirmed to journalists that the senior cleric in question helped people inside and outside the country for training and treatment. “However, this cannot be an indulgence for the harm he has also inflicted on dozens of women and young girls,” said one of the women.
The day before the publication of the article, the publication notified the Metropolitan Nikolay also said that journalists “participate in something bad and that it seems that a wave has risen again against the Church, but may God judge the liar and the unrighteous.”
Specialists in criminal law and church canonists commented to the media that there will be no church sanctions against the accused hierarch. The Georgian Church has had a commission since 2011 to investigate such moral issues, but it does not actually meet. In 2021, a large number of materials collected by the services and compromising a number of senior clerics were leaked, but they remained without consequences and not a single church case was filed on leaked information.
