U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT ONCE AGAIN ACCUSES RUSSIA OF HARASSING RELIGIOUS MINORITIES
Interfax-Religiia, 29 May 2018
The Department of State of the U.S.A. on Tuesday published another annual report about religious liberties in the world in which the government of the U.S.A., in particular, again accused Russia of arrests and fines of representatives of religious minorities.
"Agencies of government continued to arrest and fine members of groups and organizations of religious minorities on suspicion of extremism," the document says.
Also the State Department mentions in the report that the Russian Supreme Court ruled the activity of the Jehovah's Witnesses, an organization included among extremists, to be extremist.
The American foreign policy department writes that in various cities of the country "authorities dissolved or liquidated associations of religious minorities, often on the basis that these committed 'extremist activity.'"
The State Department calls attention to the fact that authorities in Russia found to be guilty and fined a number of persons for public statements that, "as they (the authorities—IF) declared, were offensive for believers."
"The police continued to conduct searches in private homes and liturgical buildings of representatives of religious minorities, interfering with religious services," it says.
In addition, the State Department emphasizes that authorities continued to prosecute persons "of a number of confessions," within the framework of the "Yarovaya Package."
Local authorities, the report affirms, continue to create restrictions for organizations of religious minorities in acquiring land and granting the right to construct houses of worship.
"As also in previous years, the government granted privileges to the Russian Orthodox Church that are not granted to any other ecclesiastical or religious associations, including greater access to governmental institutions such as schools, hospitals, prisons, and also the police and armed forces," the report notes.
The report says that Russian authorities fined and deported a number of foreigners who were engaged in religious activity, including a rabbi, four Korean Baptists, and a citizen of India, a Pentecostal pastor.
Along with this, the compilers of the document note, nongovernmental organizations in Russia in 2017 noted a decrease in the number of incidents of the use of force connected with religious affiliation. (tr. by PDS, posted 3 June 2018)
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