FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway http://www.forum18.org/

The right to believe, to worship and witness The right to change one's belief or religion The right to join together and express one's belief

4 November 2003 BELARUS: AHMADIYYA MUSLIMS AMONG BANNED RELIGIOUS ORGANISATIONS http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=175 Forum 18 News Service has learnt that a Belarusian government list of 16 banned religious organisations includes the British-based Ahmadiyya, who are generally considered to a sect of Islam. State officials reportedly "do not register sects of Christianity or Islam as there will be conflicts between them," Forum 18 was told. Even if a group has state registration, it can still encounter state opposition such as that experienced by the charismatic Full Gospel Association. The Association has been officially classed as a "neo-mystical religious-political destructive sect" whose growth poses "a significant threat to the individual, society and state" of Belarus.

6 November 2003 BELARUS: BELARUSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH® http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=177 Non-Moscow Patriarchate Orthodox Christian communities can only gain Belarusian state registration if they have the approval of a local Moscow Patriarchate bishop, a government official has told Forum 18 News Service. Also, a church official told Forum 18 that the Belarusian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) has registered its title as a brand name "so that no other organisation can register with that name." The 2002 law on religion says that registration is compulsory, but does not require Orthodox applications to have the approval of a Moscow Patriarchate bishop. This non-legal, state-enforced requirement restricts the Russian True Orthodox Church, which comes under the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox (People's) Church and catacomb True Orthodox communities.

7 November 2003 BELARUS: SET-BACK IN RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS OFFICIALS' TWO-YEAR PLAN http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=178 Belarusian officials had a detailed plan for re-registering religious organisations under the 2002 religion law's two-year compulsory re-registration period, however they have "hardly re-registered anyone, not even the Orthodox", Forum 18 News Service has been told by a reliable source. It has been suggested to Forum 18 that officials, realising that the law "has not entirely been a success," are trying to water down the re-registration requirements. One source, stressing that re-registration is not a guarantee of the right to worship freely, has told Forum 18 that Belarusian authorities are keen to re-register as many religious organisations as possible so as to 'reassure the West by saying: "Just look how many organisations we have re-registered".'

5 November 2003 GEORGIA: AFTER FOUR YEARS OF ATTACKS, A SUSPENDED SENTENCE IS GIVEN http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=176 Religious minorities in Georgia have welcomed the first criminal punishment given in four years of unpunished violence by self-styled Orthodox vigilantes, Forum 18 News Service has been told, even though the jail sentence given is a suspended sentence. However the sentenced attacker has told Forum 18 that he is innocent, that Jehovah's Witnesses violently assaulted him contrary to their past record, and that he will lodge court appeals by the end of this week. The sentenced attacker has a long record of leading raids on private flats and beating up individual believers, often working together with similarly violent Tbilisi-based Old Calendarist priest Basili Mkalavishvili, who is still free. * See full article below. *

3 November 2003 NAGORNO-KARABAKH: OFFICIALS DEFEND RESTRICTIONS ON MINORITY FAITHS http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=174 Following Forum 18 News Service's report of official threats to a local Baptist, Nagorno-Karabakh authorities have defended to Forum 18 the actions they took against him and their restrictions on minority religious activity. The authorities state action was taken, not on the basis of martial law as police claimed but, on the basis of street-trading and customs legislation, and deny that threats were made against the Baptist or his family. The authorities also point out that the only faith to have state registration is the Armenian Apostolic Church. Nagorno-Karabkh states that it abides by international human rights agreements. However all such agreements prevent religious activity being restricted because religious communities either do not have or wish to acquire state registration.

3 November 2003 TURKMENISTAN: EVEN HARSHER CONTROLS ON RELIGION? http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=173 Turkmenistan plans to make its harsh state restrictions on religion even harsher, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Under a new draft religion law, which neither the OSCE nor Forum 18 has been able to see, penalties for breaking the law will lead to criminal, not administrative, punishments. The new law also reportedly requires religious groups to "coordinate" contacts with foreigners with the government, and to gain permission before receiving foreign support such as funding and religious literature. Turkmenistan has the harshest state controls on religion in the former Soviet Union, but the Justice Minister claims harsher controls are necessary to address security concerns. Places of worship have already been demolished and police routinely break up religious meetings. Believers have been beaten, threatened, fined, sacked from their jobs, imprisoned, had their homes confiscated, been sent to a remote area of the country, and deported from Turkmenistan.

5 November 2003 GEORGIA: AFTER FOUR YEARS OF ATTACKS, A SUSPENDED SENTENCE IS GIVEN

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=176 By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service

After four years of unpunished violence by Orthodox extremists, religious minorities have greeted the conditional sentence handed down yesterday (4 November 2003) on violent self-appointed Orthodox vigilante Paata Bluashvili and four associates. The five were sentenced only for their violent attacks on two Jehovah's Witness meetings, although they have been involved in a string of attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses and Protestants. But Bluashvili is unrepentant. "We have material proving that we are 100 per cent innocent," he told Forum 18 News Service on 5 November from Rustavi, an industrial town south east of the capital Tbilisi. "The Jehovah's Witnesses beat us," he claimed. He said he and his colleagues from the Jvari (Cross) organisation, would be lodging appeals by the end of this week to the Tbilisi regional court.

"We are not overjoyed - it would have been better if they had gone to prison - but we believe this is a good verdict," the Jehovah's Witness' lawyer Manuchar Tsimintia - who represented the victims in court - told Forum 18. "The conditional sentences mean that if they do anything at all now they will immediately be sent to prison." Malkhaz Songulasvili, head of the Baptist Church in Georgia, also welcomed what he called "the belated but expected verdict". "This is a very positive sign - this is the first time anyone involved in religious violence has been punished."

Nikolai Kalutsky, the Tbilisi-based pastor of a Russian-language Pentecostal denomination with an affiliated congregation in Rustavi which has been threatened by Jvari members, greeted the sentences. "This is the first verdict of this type," he told Forum 18 on 5 November. "This verdict will we hope bring people to their senses and help to restrain such violence in future."

Another Protestant pastor, whose congregation in Rustavi has been threatened also, told Forum 18 that the verdict was a "good beginning". "We disagree with the Jehovah's Witnesses' theologically, but beating people up and breaking up meetings must be punished."

The trial of the five - which began at Rustavi city court in April - related to seven violent attacks on Jehovah's Witness meetings in Rustavi and Marneuli. "Dozens of our people were injured and hundreds were threatened and insulted," Tsimintia reported. Victims of the violence were regularly insulted in court by Bluashvili and his supporters. (At one hearing in another case last January, Bluashvili punched Tsimintia in the face in the hallway of the court.)

Bluashvili was given by Judge Giorgi Chemer a four years suspended jail sentence, as were two associates. Two further associates received sentences of two years' imprisoment. The judge recommended to Tsimintia in advance that he not attend court on 4 November to hear the verdict for his own safety.

However, last month a court sent back for further investigation a separate case against Bluashvili related to the breaing up of two congresses in Gori and Kaspi. "More than one hundred people took part in those attacks but for some reason only Bluashvili was charged," Tsimintia complained.

Bluashvili, who describes himself as an artist, told Forum 18 that he is a member of the St Nicholas parish of the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate. Patriarchate spokesman Giorgi Andriadze declined any immediate comment on the verdict. Also witholdng comment for the moment was Tamaz Papuashvili, who is responsble for religious affairs in the State Chancellery.

Rustavi was known as an atheist town during the communist period with almost no places of worship. "It was a Komsomol town," Kalutsky declared, "and that spirit lives on." When the Lutherans opened a church in the town in spring 2001 a local Orthodox priest immediately visited to find out who they were, telling them that they should not be allowed, Tbilisi-based Lutheran pastor Garri Azikov told Forum 18. The Lutherans responded that if he wanted to know who they were he could phone the Ministry of Justice or the Patriarchate. Azikov said. Neither the priest nor Bluashvili have troubled the congregation again.

As early as April 2001 Bluashvili was leading attacks on Jeghovah's Witness meetings, raiding private flats and beating individual Jehiovah's Witnesses. He has often worked together with Tbilisi-based Old Calendarist priest Basili Mkalavishvili, who is also the subject of a long-running but so far inconclusive trial (see F18News 5 June 2003 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=72 ). Forum 18 has learnt that he is currently in Tbilisi's 8th hospital undergoing medical treatment, though officials claim they cannot find him.

In May this year Bluashvili and six colleagues raided a private flat where a Pentecostal congregation was meeting, Kalutsky reported, warning them that if they ever caught them meeting again they would be beaten. Bluashvili denied to xx that this attack had taken place.

Another Protestant community, which does not want to be identified, said it too had to keep changing the venue of its meetings after being threatened. "We can't rent any buildings there and it is difficult even meeting in private flats," the pastor told Forum 18. "It was better under communism."

Oleg Khubashvili, head of the Pentecostal Union, told Forum 18 that they have a prayer house, but do not even have a notice outside to say it is a church. "There is not enough freedom in the town for that."

Malkhaz Songuashvil of the Baptist Church regards the Bluashvili verdict as the follow-up to the promises made by President Eduard Shevardnadze in March 2003 that all those guilty for violent attacks on religious minorities would be brought to justice (see F18News 25 March 2003 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=16 ). "We were expecting an immediate police and procuracy response," he added. "But the state chancellery told us they would only take action after the 2 November parliamentary elections." He said the verdict - handed down two days after the election - was "a landmark". (END)

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