Georgia, Tbilisi, Sept. 11 /Trend N.Kirtzkhalia/
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour Thomas Melia called the incidents in Georgian villages of Chela and Samtatskaro 'extremely alarming'.
There may be such challenges in free societies and particularly in post Soviet area, Melia said at a press conference on Wednesday.
"In Soviet times the religious groups were constantly persecuted. The quality of relationships between religious majority and minority is a certain challenge, but today I had a very encouraging conversation with the Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia and I am optimistic about the development of relations between religious groups," Melia said.
According to him, the freedom of religion is the main question, to which the U.S. attaches great significance, both in domestic and in foreign policy.
"In the United States all persons are free and American society is built on this cornerstone. We believe that the relationship between religious groups define peace in the society. This is why the U.S. attaches great importance to freedom of religion in international policy, and we believe that this the main question for the new democracies," Thomas Melia said.