RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS

Law privileges Jehovah's Witnesses

Or are you a rare reindeer herdsman?

"Witness" Lim

Was the law written for sectarians?

We are not Moscow

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Jehovah's Witness denied right to alternative civilian service

The first sentence in the southern Urals region of a would-be "alternative serviceman" was issued by a court in the Metallurgichesky district of Cheliabinsk. Because of his refusal to perform military service, twenty-four-year-old Dmitry Ivanchak will spend six months in a labor colony.

According to the commander of the draft division of the Metallurgichesky district military commission, Lt. Vladislav Kramorenko, the court's decision showed that not every conscript who is a member of a religious organization has the right to alternative service. Dmitry Ivanchak joined the Jehovah's Witnesses organization several years ago. However the court decided that he was using his membership in this religious association only in order that he not serve in the army and that he does not have any religious convictions. During the trial the defendant suddenly told how he did not live in accordance with the laws of the Jehovah's Witnesses and frequently violated their prohibitions on "worldly pleasures," in particular on alcoholic beverages. Great doubts also arose in the court with respect to the conscript's distaste for weapons. Before he made his appeal to the military commission Dmitry Ivanchak had managed to work as a security guard in a store.

In March 2002 a provincial court denied the conscript's right to alternative service and assigned him to the forces of the Ministry for Emergencies. All appeals by Ivanchak were denied. However the young man did not begin to fulfill the court's decision, after which the military commission appealed to the prosecutor's office.

Vladislav Kramorenko noted that he had not met any genuine conscientious objectors this year. From 1 January to 1 April, not one application reached the district military commission from young men wishing to perform such service. (tr. by PDS, posted 7 July 2004)

Posted on site of Portal-credo.ru, 5 July 2004

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Believers averse to new Russian passports

In a number of districts of the Volga region some citizens have refused to exchange their soviet-type passports for new documents, citing religious convictions for their decision, JesusChrist.ru reports.

The office of the Directorate of the Passport and Visa Service of Perm province reported that thirty Orthodox residents of the city of Dobrianka, Perm province, sent a letter to law enforcement agencies requesting to be permitted to use the old passports, since they detect in the new documents "schemes of the devil." By "schemes of the devil" the authors of the appeal mean the personal citizen's code, a space for which has been designated on the second page of the passport. In addition, the authors of the letter found the sign "666" among the elements of protective design of the passport.

According to information from the Directorate of Passport and Visa Service, at the present time there remain in the district about 1,000 citizens who have not exchanged their passport. As the spokesperson of the agency explained, some of those who still have not managed to receive a passport of the new type have been absent from the territory of the district for a long time.

In Penza province, as of 1 July 519 persons had not exchanged the old-type passport for a Russian one, the deputy director of the passport and visa service of the regional Department of Internal Affairs, Nikolai Lukichev, reported. He said that among persons who had not exchanged their passports, 48 persons stated their refusal on the basis of religious notions, 180 persons are registered in the provincial territory but at present their whereabouts are unknown, and 291 persons are retirees. According to information from REGNUM, recently a large group of believers, in the main elderly persons, held a public demonstration in Penza refusing passports with "the devil's marks."

Nikolai Lukichev noted that the passport and visa service of the district worked jointly with the provincial department of the Pensioners' Fund of the Russian federation to conduct extensive explanatory work among retired persons regarding the necessity of preparing the new documents. "From February until June we managed to persuade 3,000 pensioners, mainly in rural areas, to exchange their passports," he said. (tr. by PDS, posted 4 July 2004)

1000'S IN KIROV PROVINCE REFUSE TO EXCHANGE SOVIET PASSPORTS
Portal-credo.ru, 4 July 2004

Several thousand persons in Kirov province have not exchanged their soviet passports for Russian ones, Regions.ru reports.

And this is despite the frequent warnings from workers of the Department of Internal Affairs that after 1 July the old passports will be considered invalid. The number of those who have not received a passport is approximately 0.01 percent of the adult population of Kirov province. Workers at passport offices maintain that the basic reason for refusal to get a new passport is a religious one. The press secretary of the Viatsk diocese of RPTsMP, Alexander Baliberdin, explained that "preachers from all kinds of sects" persuade their followers that there are satanic signs on the form of the new passport. (tr. by PDS, posted 4 July 2004)

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International support of Moscow Jehovah's Witnesses

The United States has expressed its concern with regard to the decision of the Moscow appeals court to leave in force the decision of the lower court prohibiting members of the Moscow Jehovah's Witnesses congregation to profess their faith, Voice of America reports.

In the statement made in Vienna at a session of the Permanent Council of the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe, US Ambassador Stephen Minikes declared that the decision of the appeals court violates the obligations of OSCE in the area of freedom of religion. . . . (tr. by PDS, posted 4 July 2004)

STATEMENT ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN RUSSIA

As delivered by Ambassador Stephan M. Minikes to the Permanent Council, Vienna

June 29, 2004

Thank you Mr. Chairman

The United States is deeply concerned with the June 16 ruling by a Moscow court of appeals to ban Jehovah's Witnesses from practicing their faith in  Moscow. Since 1995, there have been efforts in Russia to ban Jehovah's Witnesses from Moscow.

Jehovah's Witnesses' ability to teach their beliefs is central to their faith, so banning them from doing so -- and the formal liquidation of their  organization in Moscow -- are violating their religious freedom.

The court of appeals' decision to prevent Jehovah's Witnesses from practicing their faith in Moscow appears to fly directly in the face of OSCE  commitments on freedom of religion or belief.

We feel that the decision sends a very negative message about the rights of minority religions to worship freely in Russia.

We understand that the case is pending before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, and we would call on Russian officials to avoid acting  on the Moscow court's ruling until the European Court of Human Rights has reached a decision. And we would call on Russian federal officials to  require local authorities to honor commitments to respect the right of all faiths to religious freedom.

Thank you.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site)

INTERNATIONAL HELSINKI FEDERATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Open Letter to President Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin President of the Russian Federation
The Kremlin, Moscow

Vienna, 28 June 2004

Dear Mr. President,

I am writing on behalf of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF), an organization that unites 42 human rights NGOs in Europe, Central Asia and North America, to express our deep concern about the recent ruling of the Moscow City Court to ban the activities of Jehovahıs Witnesses in Moscow. This ruling reflects a serious failure of the Russian judicial system to abide by international provisions on freedom of religion to which the Russian Federation has committed itself, and can be seen as a sign of profound intolerance towards religious minority groups. We fear that this ruling will potentially serve as an incentive for further court cases against religious minorities and as a motive for increased harassment of their members.

On 16 June 2004, the Moscow City Court ruled to uphold a lower court decision of 26 March 2004 to strip the community of Jehovahıs Witnesses in Moscow of their status as a legal entity, and expressly banned their activities. The decision, which took immediate effect, potentially has a serious impact on the personal lives of about 10,000 people in Moscow, and may gradually affect Jehovahıs Witnesses and other religious minority groups all over the Russian Federation.

The activities of Jehovahıs Witnesses are recognized as legal all over Europe and they were appropriately registered at the federal level in the Russian Federation. Several rulings by the European Court of Human Rights have reiterated that Jehovahıs Witnesses are a "known religion" with the right to manifest their faith.

The charges against Jehovahıs Witnesses in Moscow included incitement of hatred, forcing families to disintegrate, encouraging suicide (referring to refusing some medical treatments), infringing individualsı rights and freedoms, and inciting individuals not to fulfill their civil obligations. These allegations were not substantiated by the prosecution and the investigations were terminated on several occasions due to lack of corpus delicti.

According to reports by independent observers present at the trial, the court performance by the prosecution was characterized by selective use of "evidence" and expert statements, treating rumors as facts, unprofessional investigations, as well as ignorance of international freedom of religion standards and the failure to implement European case law. In addition, it was reported that at the core of the case was not alleged wrongdoings by Jehovahıs Witnesses but rather their dogma - in violation of European case law, which excludes discretion on the part of the state to determine whether religious beliefs and practices are "correct" or "true."

Of serious concern is also the fact this ruling may serve as a precedent for other Russian regions and will most probably increase harassment against Jehovahıs Witnesses and members of other religious minority groups in the Russian Federation.

Jehovahıs Witnesses were subjected to harassment throughout Russia already before the Moscow City Court decision, often with reference to the lower court ruling against them: they were refused contracts to rent meeting halls and build places of worship, they were dismissed from work, defamation campaigns were carried out against them and their members were physically ill-treated. It is feared that the ruling will serve as a legal basis for the closure of places of worship and cancellation of rental contracts for meeting halls, thus relegating the believers to meet in private homes ­ reminiscent of the Soviet era when their activities were regarded illegal. Moreover, Jehovahıs Witnessesı property may be confiscated and their members may be arrested like common criminals and punished for exercising their freedom of religion.

While the 16 June ruling of the Moscow City Court is the first outright ban on a religious community under the 1997 religion law, violations of freedom of religion has been registered throughout the Russian Federation since its enforcement, including false interpretation of the law by local authorities, discrimination and various forms of harassment. In 2001, Moscow authorities refused to re-register the Salvation Army, which could have led to a de facto ban on its activities. However, the Constitutional Court in 2002 overruled the lower court ruling against the Salvation Army.

I wish to emphasize that all attempts by Russian authorities and courts to restrict peaceful religious activities seriously undermine Russiaıs obligations under international human rights law and adversely affect Russiaıs reputation in the international fora.

 Yours respectfully,

Aaron Rhodes, Executive Director
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF)

Posted on IHFHR site

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Local administration in southern Russia seeks ban on Jehovah's Witnesses

The hetman's council of the Georgievsk Cossack Division of the Terek Cossack host reviewed the question of the attitude of cossackdom to the conducting of a congress of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization at Nezlobnaia stanitsa [cossack village], the "Severnyi Kavkaz" newspaper reports.

With regard to this the council sent letters to the governor of Stavropol territory, Alexander Chernogorov, and the hetman of the Terek Cossack Host, V. Bondarev, the head of the Georgievsk territorial state administration, A. Manakov, and the head of the city of Georgievsk, V. Gubanov, and other official persons.

"A definite political doctrine," the cossacks write, "is evident in the activity of this sect. Jehovah's Witnesses call the church of Christ 'an organization of Satan' and they call themselves witnesses of the wrath and vengeance of God against the church of Christ, and they announce the imminent destruction of Christian nations. The political part of the Witnesses doctrine contains blatant demagoguery. They promise the equality of rich and poor, employment for everybody, absence of exploitation, abundant food, the end of wars, and other tempting goods. Now in Georgievsk and population points of the district one can often meet members of this organization who are engaged in 'preaching,' which is in essence coercion. At the same time the Witnesses maintain unique accounts of their own preaching raids. In addition to an indication of the houses, apartments, names of citizens, and literature given out, the accounts describe the reaction of the residents to Witnesses' preaching and the attitude of each person toward the sect. It is easy to imagine what kind of extensive data base the Witnesses' corporation has at its disposal."

The hetman's council notes that the Golovin court of Moscow made the decision to close the capital's congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. The court satisfied the petition of the prosecutor of the northern district of the capital accusing members of the society of extremist activity. During the course of an investigation the prosecutor of the northern district came to the conclusion that the activity of the Witneses was directed toward the incitement of religious strife and the destruction of the family. The hetman's council and Orthodox clergy sharply condemn the activity of the sect of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Georgievska and the Georgievska district and they consider that the "sect works for a division within society, causes harm to the family, destroys the developed system of life, and destabilizes conditions in the district."

The cossacks' letter contains a request for conducting a careful analysis of the activity of the Jehovah's Witnesses organization and, to the extent possible, a prohibition on conducting its congresses and promotional work on the territory of the city. (tr. by PDS, posted 4 July 2004)

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Speak no ill of the dead

After metropolitans Antony Bloom and Pitirim Nechaev, who personified soviet Orthodoxy crippled by bolshevism and "sergianism," Fr Dimitry Dudko left for a different world. The former idol of the dissident intelligentsia and former "prisoner of conscience," who ended his days as the "spiritual director" of the extremist "Zavtra" newspaper and a cleric of a remote village church almost 100 kilometers from Moscow, died on 28 June at the age of eighty-three.

He was a peasant's son and was distinguished by his simplicity and accessibility. However he was a star and many of his extravagant acts cannot be explained other than as ambition for fame. To achieve this Fr Dimitry wrote dozens of novels, which nobody knows, and open letters to Brezhnev and Carter, which did not reach their addressees, and he dreamed up an all-union antialcohol campaign a year before Gorbachev came to power.

Father Dimitry Dudko passed into history with a very contradictory reputation. His name became known to soviet people, to "all progressive humanity," after his shameful "televised repentance," shown on all soviet television channels just on the eve of the 1980 Olympiad. Dressed in a fine suit from the "Bolshevik" factory, the gray-bearded priest informed the world of how he received assignments from foreign intelligence services and assumed for himself the task of overthrowing the soviet state, of which he "sincerely repented." Thousands of his spiritual children knew well that Fr Dimitry never had done anything of the kind; his sermons were devoted only to questions of Christian morals and the word "atheism" was the only "political" term he used. The radiant dream of a "peaceful Christian enlightenment" of the Soviet Union that was beginning to rot, which Fr Dimitry sowed in the romantic hearts of his followers, seemed to have been cancelled and disgraced by Fr Dimitry  himself. Many of his "spiritual children" have not even recovered from the blow to this very day.

However Fr Dimitry's "repentance" was not completely surprising. It had been prepared to a great extent by the experience of the preceding life of the "all-Russian pastor." He came to the church after the war and a serious wound. In the first postwar years the "construction" of the new church devised by Comrade Stalin in the crucial 1943, when the contours of the postwar world were being drawn, was in full swing. The demobilized Dima Dudko entered theological and pastoral courses that had begun in the Novodevichy monastery by the direct order of the soviet leader. His theological education, however, was completed only in 1956 because the state decided to make an example of him by punishing the seminarian for publication of harmless verses, the first of his literary attempts, in newspapers that were issued in occupied territory. Thus simultaneously with his theological education Fr Dimitry received a camp education.

His first place of ministry was the Transfiguration [Preobrazhenskii] cathedral that was torn down in 1961 to make way for the "Preobrazhenskaia Square" metro station. The beginning priest was trained in preaching by Metropolitan Nikolai Yarushevich, one of the three participants in the meeting with Stalin on a September night in 1943. The soviet state willingly published, mainly for "foreign use," collections of Metropolitan Nikolai's sermons "in defense of peace." Father Dimitry's sermons developed in the same style.

After the destruction of the cathedral, which shook up the young priest, he was located in the neighboring cemetery church that became the site of the birth of his fame. After Saturday vespers he conducted informal conversations with parishioners, answering any questions which they posed for him in notes. The conversations dragged on late into the night and hundreds of people flocked to them, who were not the traditional elderly church folk but artists, engineers, and hippies. In an endless stream, western reporters and diplomats went to the Transfiguration Cemetery, some of whom even accepted baptism at Fr Dimitry's hands. The foreigners' attention guaranteed for a time a certain "immunity" for the energetic pastor. But in the end the authorities found a pretext for transferring him to a remote village parish, where an automobile accident was arranged, as the result of which Fr Dimitry underwent "hospitalization" in a psychiatric institution. His spiritual children liberated him from that place, but soon occurred his official arrest, for publication in the West of collections of sermons and literary works. Church leadership acted in synch with the soviet leadership. Fr Dimitry was retired and banned from clerical ministry.  So that his notorious "repentance" was directed not only to the state but also to his own church hierarchy. "He repented both to God and to Satan," commented one of the Moscow priests of that time about this action.

After his release Fr Dimitry was deprived of his former fame. His name became known again only at the beginning of the 1990s, when he addressed angry accusations to the "dermocrats." Soon the "Den" newspaper (now known as "Zavtra"} triumphantly introduced to a stunned public the former dissident and antisoviet in the capacity of its "spiritual director." "I never spoke against the soviet state," Fr Dimitry confessed. Under the circumstances of the collapse of soviet values, he addressed them as a zealous supporter, even to the point of calling for enlisting Stalin in the canon of saints. In one edition of Zavtra Fr Dimitry wrote: "The time has now come to rehabilitate Stalin.  The entire nation, ripped off and deceived, now is sighing:  if Stalin were here there would not be such a disaster. But this rehabilitation, as it appears from a human point of view, appears to me as a priest from a spiritual one. I want to recall that our patriarchs, especially Sergius and Alexis, called Stalin a divinely ordained ruler. Indeed, Stalin was given to us by God; he created such a powerful state that cannot be destroyed completely, however hard they try."

It is hard to agree with Fr Dimitry from a Christian point of view. But he spoke sincerely, in keeping with his faith. Sincerity is an extremely rare quality in modern life, and even more so in contemporary church circles where everything depends on the "will of the hierarchy."  So that, despite the grotesqueness of his views, this man was worthy of respect. He lived in an epoch that broke many people. It even broke him, but did not deprive him of his sincerity. It is hard to convict a sincere man of treachery. That is what those spiritual children who have remained loyal to him to the end think. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 July 2004)

Posted on Portal-credo.ru site, 2 July 2004

St. Filaret's Orthodox institute rebuffed by court

The arbitration court of Moscow turned down yesterday the suit of the "Presentation" regional public organization to find illegal a resolution of the Moscow city government that was adopted with numerous mistakes, which concerned the dangerous conditions and complete reconstruction of the building where the premises of the Presentation brotherhood and the St. Filaret's Orthodox Christian Institute, created by Orthodox priest Georgy Kochetkov, are located.  In the case the defendant presented practically no evidence of its position, the Information Service reports.

Thus, the danger of eviction of the St. Filaret's Institute from the premises it occupies has become ever more acute. It is clear that if in the future the requirements of the law regarding the procedure for recognizing the dangerous conditions of a building are ignored, then the ending of the academic process in which hundreds of people have been engaged will be unavoidable.

The alarm of the teachers, employees, and students of the institute as well as of all friends of the institute, the Presentation brotherhood, and Orthodox Transfiguration Community of Brotherhoods is intensified because an order already has been received to vacate a part of the academic area occupied by the institute. At the same time no suggestions regarding an adequate substitution on the part of the authorities of the city and investors have been received.

In the near future the Presentation organization intends to request a review of the decision of the court of the first instance jointly with residents of the building. (tr. by PDS, posted 1 July 2004)

COURT REJECTS ATTEMPT OF "PRESENTATION" BROTHERHOOD AND ST. FILARET'S INSTITUTE TO DEFEND ITS RIGHT TO ACADEMIC PREMISES
Portal-credo.ru, 01 July 2004

The first hearing on a suit by the "Presentation" regional public organization against the government of Moscow was held on 30 June in the arbitration court of Moscow. As "Presentation" organization president Dmitry Gasak, who represents the brotherhood of the same name, told "Blagovest-info," as a result of the session which lasted no more than fifteen minutes, the court issued a decision to turn down the suit whose goal had been to recognize as illegal an order of the government of Moscow, which was adopted with numerous errors, concerning the dangerous condition and complete reconstruction of the building at 29 Pokrovka St. In this building are located the premises of the "Presentation" educational and charitable brotherhood and the St. Filaret's Orthodox Christian Institute (SFI)

Dmitry Gasak explained that in January of the current year the government of Moscow adopted a resolution concerning recognition of the building as dangerous and the resettlement of residents and other owners of the premises. When that action was taken the necessary inspection of the building was not conducted, which would be the only way to determine its real condition. At the judicial session the "Presentation" organization presented all the necessary documents, but the side of the defendant, represented by an attorney of the State Legal Administration of the Central Administrative District, did not even consider an argument in rebuttal to be necessary. "Our petition to sue was written on five pages, and their answer took up a half page and insisted on recognizing the building as dangerous, without presenting the necessary technical conclusion concerning the dangerous condition," Dmitry Gasak said.

Representatives of the "Presentation" organization intend to file an appeal against the decision of the court, but, as "Blagovest-info's" informant said, "one should not count on getting a decision within the legal space." The period for resettlement, which was set by the government of Moscow as September to December 2004, causes special concern. "In effect, the new academic year for the institute is in great doubt, if not worse," Dmitry Gasak complained and recalled that entrance exams for the institution of higher education will be conducted from 1 to 14 September and classes are to begin in the middle of September. As the president of the organization said, no specific premises have been offered by the government of Moscow in exchange.

The SFI, which was founded in 1988, has been located on the first floor of an apartment building at 29 Pokrovka Street for almost ten years, in premises which are the property of the "Presentation" organization. The web site of SFI notes that the academic institution, which was founded in 1988, in the opinion of many scholars and cultural figures, is a "unique territory of lively dialogue between ecclesiastical and secular scholarship." (tr. by PDS, posted 1 July 2004)
 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
[Ed. note:  RRN has received the following from St. Filaret's Institute Information Service. It is undated.]

At the beginning of 1995 the "Presentation" brotherhood acquired its own premises for the St. Filaret's Institute for the first time in the building at No. 29 Pokrovka Street, with the help of Russian and foreign friends. Before this, SFI had been located in the territory of the former Presentation monastery, but when it was decided to get rid of the monastery the institute was literally thrown out onto the street and no premises were offered to it in exchange.

These first premises on Pokrovka were a former communal apartment of 120 square meters, which was quickly fixed up so that it would be possible to begin work. In the course of the subsequent eight years we have gradually acquired three other such apartments, gathering resources for them far and wide. Our rector, the priest Georgy Kochetkov, turned to all of his Transfiguration brotherhood and to all our friends, requesting help, since the institute was in extremely tight circumstances. At the same time we expanded our educational and enlightening activity to incorporate approximately 1,000 persons annually. More and more people turned to us for help from various cities and from abroad. It was necessary to look for premises for classes throughout Moscow, which, of course, seriously hindered the work of both teachers and students. In the end we managed to acquire four neighboring apartments on the first floor and to conclude an agreement with city authorities for renting the basement, thereby consolidating all classroom activity in one spot. By April 2004 we just finished years-long repair and received new state and church licenses specifically for these premises.

But back in March of this year we accidentally found out that on 19 January (on the feast of Epiphany according to our calendar) a resolution of the Moscow government came out, which recognized our building as dangerous and, consequently, ordered eviction and reconstruction. Seventy percent of our large building (around 12,000 square meters) belongs to private owners. As a rule these are well-to-do people who obtained and remodeled their apartments over the past ten years. Naturally, before making the decision, nobody from the city authorities talked with any of the owners or inspected the condition of the apartments and the building as a whole. But the law clearly defines the procedure for determining the danger of a building, since this is a very serious and responsible affair. In addition, after the adoption of this resolution, in February city authorities registered a transaction for sale and purchase of apartments in our building which, if one admits that its dangerous condition was recognized as legal, then it could not be recognized as fit for occupancy. Absurd! Nevertheless, in Febraury the expert institution of Moscow (Moscow Building Inspection) issued for concluding such a transaction a technical conclusion regarding its fitness for habitation. At that time when in January this same institution had recognized the building as dangerous (to be sure, nobody has seen that conclusion; we just heard a reference to it).

It must be said that such a situation in Moscow, when the rights of owners are crudely violated, especially in the center of the city, is not a rarity, alas. Unfortunately, on the basis of several conversations and certain evidence, we do not rule out in this case a definite ideological order with the goal of removing from the center of Moscow those who dare to conduct themselves freely, without fear and submissive desire to please one or another ruler.

The only way out of this situation that we see is upholding legality and maximum publicity of all that has happened. Experience shows that if people insist on their rights in solidarity and accord they have a real chance of resisting illegality. On 30 June, on the day of the first judicial session in Moscow arbitration court, we ask all friends for fervent prayer for our institute and the entire Christian brotherhood in Russia and for the work of spiritual and cultural education and enlightenment within it. (tr. by PDS, posted 1 July 2004)

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