TBILISI. - The Georgian Parliament introduced amendments to the Civil Code, according to which five religious groups were granted legal status, Novosti-Georgia reports.

Legal status was given to the Armenian Apostolic Church, Roman Catholic Church, the Muslim community, the Jewish community and the Baptist church in Georgia.

The oppositional “Christian-Democrats” faction voted against the bill. “The Georgian Church does not have a similar status. We need to understand whether Azerbaijan and Armenia will grant the same status the Georgian church,” Nikoloz Laliashvili stated.

However, according to officials, the bill does not reduce the role of the Georgian Orthodox Church. “Granting legal status does not provide special rights and the Georgian church maintains the highest status,” Vice-Speaker Gigi Tsereteli noted.