Religious communities in Georgia receive 3.5 million GEL for compensation damage caused by Soviet totalitarian regime

The Georgian State Agency of Religious Issues has allocated 3.5 million GEL to religious communities in the country 'to provide partial compensation for damage caused during the Soviet totalitarian regime', announces the agency.

The money was distributed to the following religious communities:

• Muslim community of Georgia - 2.20 million GEL
• Armenian Apostolic community in Georgia - 600,000 GEL
• The Christian community of the Roman Catholics of Georgia - 400,000 GEL
• Georgian Jewish community - 300,000 GEL

The agency said that the remaining one million GEL will be distributed among the religious communities 'later'.

About 83.5% of the Georgian population were Orthodox Christians, 10.7% were Muslims and 2.9% belonged to the Armenian Apostolic Church, shows the 2014 General Census data.

Out of 3,713,804 population 3,097,573 were Orthodox Christians, followed by:

• Muslims - 398,677 
• Armenian Apostolic Church - 109,041
• Catholics - 19,195 
• Jehovah's Witnesses - 12,395 
• Yazidis - 8,591 
• Protestants - 2,520 
• Jews - 1,417