OCCUPATION AUTHORITIES OF "LPR" PROHIBIT ACTIVITY OF EVANGELICAL CHURCHES
The Russian-backed occupation authorities of the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR) have refused reregistration for evangelical churches and have prohibited any religious activity for them, including in their own houses of worship and even in private homes.
Today it has become known from the leaders of various evangelical (protestant) churches of Ukraine that the occupation authorities of Luhansk have refused reregistration to all church societies of evangelical Christians (Baptists, Pentecostals, Adventists), the Institute of Religious Liberty (IRL) reports.
This means a complete prohibition of religious activity of evangelical churches in the occupied territories of Luhansk oblast. At the same time, as representatives of the churches explained for IRL, this ban pertains not only to worship services in houses of worship but it includes house gatherings of believers, for which fines and arrests are threatened.
The formal basis for the refusal was negative conclusions by so-called "religious studies expert analyses."
At the same time, believers fear that the occupation authorities are making good on their previous threats regarding confiscation of houses of worship of those religious societies that do not undergo reregistration.
"We do not know whether we will be able to conduct a service in the church building next Sunday. The authorities said that the premises do not belong to us now," one of the churches of Luhansk oblast commented for IRL.
In February 2018, the occupation authorities of Luhansk adopted a so-called "law of the LPR" on freedom of conscience and religious associations, according to which all religious associations functioning on the occupied territories of Luhansk oblast had to undergo an obligatory procedure of reregistration within six months. Subsequently the occupation authorities extended the deadline for reregistration, which came to an end on 2 August of this year, for another two and a half months, to 15 October.
One gets the impression that the motive for reregistration for occupation authorities was to collect data on evangelical churches and their members, in order to continue their practice of religious persecution in a more centralized manner. At the same time, the very idea of reregistration of religious societies is being used by pro-Russian separatists as a screen in order to create the appearance of "legality" for their crimes against believers of different confessions and for their attempt to establish total control over the population of the occupied territories.
It should be noted that the so-called "law of the LPR" restricts the circle of Orthodox parishes that may operate on occupied territories of Luhansk oblast, demanding of them recognition by world Orthodoxy and only "within the boundaries of the canonical territory of the Moscow patriarchate" (article 6). Such a demand de facto places under threat the activity of churches of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate.
As IRL reported, Russian-backed militants force religious organizations of the occupied territories to undergo reregistration under threat of the prohibition of any activity by them, and of fines and confiscation of churches, houses of worship, and other church property. For example, individual religious societies have already suffered from arbitrary searches, robberies, or the complete closing of churches and houses of worship. (tr. by PDS, posted 17 October 2018)
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