OCCUPATION AUTHORITY OF DONETSK TO BAN CHURCHES NOT UNDERGOING REREGISTRATION
Institute of Religious Liberty, 4 July 2018
Authorities of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) have published a decree according to which the activity of existing religious organizations that have not undergone reregistration will be prohibited.
At the same time, occupation authorities of Donetsk have established a deadline for reregistration of 1 March 2019, the Institute of Religious Liberty (IRL) reports.
As the IRL learned from local believers, pro-Russian henchmen are requiring churches and religious organizations in occupied territories of Donetsk oblast to fulfill this decree concerning reregistration under threat of the prohibition of any religious activity and subsequent confiscation of churches, houses of worship, and other ecclesiastical property.
The aforementioned amendments also provide that for purposes of registration of existing religious organizations, a religious studies expert analysis will be conducted in accordance with the required procedure. One may presuppose that it is this requirement that will be the fundamental instrument that occupation authorities of Donetsk will use for refusing the registration of religious organizations and groups.
At the same time, religious organizations and groups, in the event of successful registration, will be required to present to an official agency of the occupation authorities, no less often than once a year, notification of the continuation of their activity.
It should be noted that this requirement for obligatory reregistration and the conduct of a religious studies expert analysis does not extend to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. For this confession, the occupation authorities provide a special, simplified procedure of "legalization."
As IRL has learned from its sources, on 10 June 2018 representatives of the "Foundation of State Property of the DPR" closed the church of the Holy Spirit of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate in Donetsk, without any kind of explanation.
Then, on 26 June, representatives of the Ministry of State Security of the DPR closed a mosque in Donetsk, justifying this with the alleged aid to terrorists and pro-Ukrainian propaganda on the part of local Muslims. In their actions, occupation authorities cite the so-called law of the DPR "On combating extremist activity," which, like in Russia also, often is used for putting a stop to the religious activity of inconvenient believers or religious associations as a whole.
We recall that problems with reregistration in 2018 also arose for religious organizations in the occupied territories of Luhansk oblast. Occupation authorities demanded from local religious organizations that they reregister before the first of August 2018. At the same time, the so-called law of the LPR "On freedom of religious confession and religious associations" that was adopted in February forbids the activity on occupied territory of Luhansk oblast of all religious groups that consist of five or more persons and do not have direct relations with one of the "traditional confessions." At the same time, the list of "traditional confessions" has not been specified.
As the IRL reported, occupation authorities in the territories of Luhansk oblast that are not under Ukrainian control are continuing religious persecution of evangelical Christians. In particular, pro-Russian militants robbed a house of worship of Evangelical Christians-Baptists in the city of Stakhanov.
At the same time, the annual report of the United States Committee for International Religious Freedom declared that Russia is responsible for religious crimes in the Donbass and in Crimea by reason of its actual control of these occupied territories. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 July 2018)
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