Belarus: Pentecostals Raided

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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

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28 May 2007

BELARUS: PENTECOSTALS RAIDED AT PENTECOST

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=964 Ten state officials raided the Pentecost service of John the Baptist Pentecostal Church in the capital Minsk yesterday (27 May). Pastor Antoni Bokun was arrested, held overnight at a police station and fined 20 times the minimum monthly wage today (28 May) for holding an "unsanctioned mass meeting", Forum 18 News Service has learnt. The church - which has state registration - has been refused permission to rent premises for public worship, so has to meet in a private home. Local lawyer Sergei Lukanin told Forum 18 that Pastor Bokun told the court he had broken the law only because it went against the law of God. Fellow church member Jaroslaw Lukasik, a Polish citizen married to a Belarusian, who faces deportation in early June, was also held for several hours. Although he did not preach at the service, he faces administrative charges on accusations of conducting unauthorised religious activity as a foreign citizen and hence violating laws on the presence of foreign citizens in Belarus.

29 May 2007

BELARUS: RENTED PROPERTY STILL BARRED TO PROTESTANTS

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=965 Protestant communities in Belarus who do not own their own property continue to find meeting for worship difficult, Forum 18 News Service has found. Despite being barred from renting premises in Grodno, for example, the charismatic Living Word Church has found that "our brother Catholics in this town are letting us meet in their church." Under the Religion Law, registered religious organisations may rent secular premises, but only with a contract and the approval of the relevant local state authority. A consistent pattern has emerged of those who control premises for rent backing out of contracts with Protestants soon after the authorities are informed. One Protestant in Minsk described this to Forum 18 as being "like a suitcase with a false bottom." Such property problems mainly affect Protestant communities as, unlike other communities, they are much less likely to be in possession of historical worship buildings. These are the main premises within which religious events do not require state permission under the Religion Law.

30 May 2007

BELARUS: PROTESTANTS STILL BARRED FROM REBUILDING PREMISES

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=966 Protestant communities continue to face great difficulties in rebuilding premises for worship, Forum 18 News Service has found. A typical example is a Grodno region Baptist congregation which wants to rebuild its wooden 1920s church building. "We want to rebuild in brick, but the authorities refuse, without giving a definite reason," a church member told Forum 18. State religious affairs and local council officials have been evasive when Forum 18 has asked them about the church's problems. A related problem is the near impossibility of getting property officially redesignated so that it can be legally used for worship buildings. This problem mainly affects Protestant communities, as unlike the other major comunities in the country - Orthodox and Catholic - they are much less likely to own their own worship buildings. Non-Christian communities, such as Jews and Hare Krishna devotees, are present only in small numbers. One Baptist thinks that the official status of buildings is not the main problem. "The situation will never be resolved as long as we are regarded as sectarians," Pastor Aleksandr Knysh told Forum 18.

30 May 2007

BELARUS: SECOND DEPORTATION ORDER AND FINE FOR POLISH PENTECOSTAL

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=967 A fine and a second deportation order were handed down today (30 May) on Polish Pentecostal Jaroslaw Lukasik to punish him for his activity with his church in the capital Minsk. The authorities claimed he was "illegally" involved in the church's 27 May Pentecost service which was raided by police. He was ordered to leave Belarus by the end of 7 June and has been banned from returning for five years, he told Forum 18 News Service. He was also fined one month's minimum wage. A Citizenship and Migration Department official told Forum 18 Lukasik's deportation was ordered "for repeated violations of the regime governing the presence of foreigners on the territory of Belarus". Lukasik - whose wife and their three children are Belarusian citizens - insists the order is unjust. "I was present at the service and prayed - that's normal participation," he told Forum 18. "But even though we produced a statement signed by a whole list of church members saying that I did not preach that Sunday, the police insisted on their own version." * See full article below. *

30 May 2007

BELARUS: SECOND DEPORTATION ORDER AND FINE FOR POLISH PENTECOSTAL

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=967 By Geraldine Fagan, Moscow Correspondent, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>

Jaroslaw Lukasik, a Polish citizen, today (30 May) received a second deportation order and a small fine from a Minsk administrative commission for engaging in "illegal religious activity" during the Pentecost service last Sunday (27 May) of John the Baptist Pentecostal Church, he told Forum 18 News Service from Central District Police Station in the Belarusian capital. Under the latest deportation order, he has been given eight days to leave the country - or until the end of 7 June. He may not return for five years, or until 31 May 2012.

This latest deportation order coincides with one of 8 May under which Lukasik must leave Belarus by 8 June (see F18News 17 May 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=958>). His wife and their three children are Belarusian citizens.

In addition, Lukasik told Forum 18, he was today fined the minimum monthly wage, or 31,000 Belarusian roubles (88 Norwegian Kroner, 11 Euros or 14 US Dollars). He intends to appeal both deportation order and fine.

"I was present at the service and prayed - that's normal participation," he remarked. "But even though we produced a statement signed by a whole list of church members saying that I did not preach that Sunday, the police insisted on their own version." Lukasik said that several of the state representatives who conducted Sunday's raid on the Pentecostal church had signed a protocol maintaining that he had conducted illegal religious activity at the service. "But I haven't seen it, so I don't know precisely of what sort of activity I am accused."

Detained for several hours following the 27 May police raid, Lukasik was ordered to go before an administrative commission at midday today. Speaking to Forum 18 shortly afterwards, he said he was waiting for police to finish issuing his deportation papers and would then be free to leave the station.

Also reached by Forum 18 on 30 May, an official of Minsk District's Citizenship and Migration Department confirmed the details of today's deportation order and fine, but at first refused to provide further details by telephone. Asked nevertheless for what crime Lukasik was being deported, the official remarked: "For repeated violations of the regime governing the presence of foreigners on the territory of Belarus. All the relevant documentation has been given to him and everything's been explained to him - if he disagrees, he can challenge the decision in court."

Following Sunday's raid, police held Pastor Antoni Bokun of John the Baptist Pentecostal Church overnight, and a local court fined him 20 times the minimum monthly wage the next day (see F18News 28 May 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=964>). Pastor Bokun's 100-strong congregation has been meeting at his home since 2001 because the authorities refuse to allow the church to rent a building for worship. Under the restrictive 2002 Religion Law, home worship meetings without advance state approval are illegal.

While the 2002 Law does allow a religious organisation to meet at free-standing residential premises with the consent of the local authorities, in practice this is highly dependent upon the discretion of individual officials (see F18News 7 October 2003 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=155>). The authorities have consistently obstructed religious communities from meeting for worship in residential buildings (see F18News 28 July 2005 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=619>).

Protestant communities have great difficulty in renting public buildings for worship meetings. A consistent pattern has emerged in recent years, in which those who control premises available for rent regularly back out of contracts with Protestants soon after the authorities are informed (see F18News 29 May 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=965>). The authorities also severely obstruct attempts to rebuild churches, get land and buildings formally redesignated for use for worship buildings, or meet together for worship in private homes (see F18News 30 May 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=966>).

In a 29 May open statement to Minsk City Police Department, Bishop Sergei Khomich of the Belarusian Pentecostal Union - to which John the Baptist Church is affiliated - expresses his concern about Pastor Bokun's recent prosecution. "As a bishop, I am deeply troubled by the following circumstance: On the day of Pentecost a pastor of a Pentecostal church spent approximately 24 hours under arrest for celebrating a major religious holiday in the same way as all Christians in our country."

Bishop Khomich also complains that "unlawful police action is leading to increased tension in Belarusian society and destabilising the religious situation". He calls for laws affecting religious activity to be brought into line with the 1994 Belarusian Constitution.

Lukasik believes the purpose of Sunday's raid was to prosecute him further after his public refutation of the 8 May deportation order. "National security" - the reason given for the deportation - is not a permissible reason to restrict freedom of thought, conscience or belief under either the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - both of which Belarus is party to (see F18News 17 May 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=958>).

The authorities in Belarus maintain tight controls on the religious activity of foreign citizens. Under a 23 February 1999 Council of Ministers decree, their work with local religious communities is subject to approval by the State Committee for Religious and Ethnic Affairs. In requesting permission for a foreign citizen to lead its activity, a religious association must "give grounds for the necessity of such an invitation and include a copy of documentation certifying the religious education of the invitee." If successful, the foreign religious worker may conduct religious activity only within places of worship belonging to or premises continuously rented by the host religious organisation.

In September 2006 a Polish Catholic priest narrowly escaped prosecution after he celebrated Mass without state permission while passing through Minsk (see F18News 3 October 2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=849>). Foreign religious workers invited by local religious communities of various confessions are increasingly being barred from Belarus (see F18News 18 October 2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=856>). One example of the problems encountered is the case of an an Israeli citizen, Rabbi Borukh Lamdan, who is still trying to get his state permission to conduct religious activity renewed (see F18News 17 May 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=958>).

(END)

For more background information see Forum 18's Belarus religious freedom survey at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=888>.

A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=806>.

A printer-friendly map of Belarus is available at <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=belaru> (END)

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at http://www.forum18.org/

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