Constitutional court to review discrimination claim of religious organisations

The Constitutional Court of Georgia will review a claim by a group of religious organisations on a tax exemption case of the Georgian Orthodox Church representing discrimination against an article of the country's constitution.

The court admitted for consideration a case that alleges violation of equal treatment of religious groups through an exemption of the Orthodox organisation from paying property tax on land used for non-economic purposes.

Represented by the Tbilisi-based Tolerance and Diversity Institute and a  constitutional law organisation at the Tbilisi Free University, the nine claimants direct their case against the article in Georgia's tax code that allows the Orthodox church to be exempted while other groups are subject to the tax.

They claim the article to be in violation of Article 11 of the constitution that guarantees equality before law.

In 2018, the constitutional court accepted two claims by religious organisations concerning articles in the tax code setting discriminatory circumstances.