Copyrighted material. For private use only.
A human rights group released a report Thursday citing violations of freedom of conscience in Russia in the year since a law regulating religions was enacted and warned of a trend toward the emergence of a dominant, state-supported faith.
"Although there are no grounds to speak of large-scale persecution of religious dissidents or of forced conversion of the population into Orthodoxy, the legislative and administrative conditions...have already been created," the report said. "Religious inequality has become daily routine."
The new law imposes tough registration requirements on faiths that are considered relative newcomers to Russia.
The Moscow Helsinki Group, which issued the report together with two other groups, accused Russia's "special services" --- a euphemism for the successors of the KGB --- of waging a "secret war" against freedom of religion.
The human rights group also accused the Moscow Patriarchate of "interfering" in the activities of the state by publishing a directory of "destructive cults," which has been used by local bureaucrats in dealing with new religious organizations.
The report also criticized a new bill on bioethics now being considered in parliament that would regulate nontraditional treatment methods. The bill is "filled with intolerance and is an example of medieval legislation," it said.
Much of the obstruction of religious groups comes on the local level, where local legislatures have adopted restrictive measures that go even further than the federal law, the report said.
The human rights group warned that radical nationalist organizations and Cossack groups, which claim to be defenders of the Orthodox Church, have exerted pressure on local authorities, such as in the Rostov region, where they demanded that no non-Orthodox churches be built in the town of Volgodonsk.
In other places, such as Krasnodar and Novosibirsk, representatives of religious minorities have been beaten by nationalists, the report said.
The report also discussed the lawsuit against the Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow and the banning of a Lutheran mission in the Siberian region of Khakassia.
courtesy of Ray Prigodich
(posted 4 December 1998)
We, the Ukrainian Orthodox church (UPTs) congregation of the village of Melnichnoe, Turka district of Lviv province, appeal to you with a request for aid. In our village there is a church. It was closed twenty-seven years. In 1991 our church was opened and all parishioners agreed that it would be Orthodox. We signed an agreement for the use of the church with the district adminitration. We regularly paid all taxes and insurance for the building. But in 1993 a schism began among the parishioners. Several persons wanted for the church to become Catholic. We agreed on this if it should turn out that the Catholics would be a majority. When a village assembly was convened, only eleven Catholics came while from the Orthodox congregation there were more than 160. The Catholics saw that they were very few in number and they decided upon a ruse. They went about the village and began collecting signatures supposedly for the separation of the village of Melnichnoe from the "Galichin" agricultural union. People signed a blank sheet of paper, and the Catholics then took these signatures and appealed to a court for alternating use of the building. In accordance with these signatures, the court made the decision for alternating use of the building. We Orthodox did not agree with this decision for it is not fitting to have two masters in one house. We agreed to donate to them a building built by the Orthodox congregation to which we have the right of ownership, a chapel and belfry, and also to help them build a new church. But the answer always was the same--alternation. On 22 January 1998 a squad of police led by the procurator of the district decided to held the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church (UGKTs) congregation. At his orders they used tear gas and rubber clubs to break into the church. After taking an inventory of the property of the church they locked it with their own locks and sealed it. For more than half a year the church has been closed. On 20 September of this year the procurator of the district and president of the district administration came to the village in order to call another assembly. Again from the congregation of UGKTs there was nobody, since in fact such a congregation does not exist. It turned out that from the side of the UPTs congregation about 200 persons showed up, and actually we number 275 persons over eighteen years of age. Nevertheless, the activists of UGKTs on the next day went with the procurator in order also to seal the belfry and chapel. There is a small room in the belfry where there is a stock of the undertaker and funeral lamps. The congregation of UPTs has conducted services in it when it was raining or was cold, so that the rain would not fall on the elderly and priests. Other parishioners worshipped outside the walls of the church and the belfry. Again the district "elite" arrived to seal both the belfry and chapel. They have been building a new school in the village for more than five years, but so far they have completed only the first floor up to the windows. Nobody, neither deputies nor district officials, will come to resolve the question of construction of the school, but whole delegations come in order to force alternating use of the church. We ask you: come on a holiday or on Sunday with video cameras and take pictures of how we have to conduct our services outside the walls of the church and of how large is the church that is closed. Who needs this? Who is organizing all of this?
With respect,
parishioners of Saint Michael's church of the village of Melnichnoe,
Turka district, Lviv province
(tr. by PDS)
(posted 28 November 1998)
MOSCOW, 24 November (Metaphrasis). Despite the lack of response by representatives of the procurach general of Russian federation to the call from Jewish religious organization to institute a case against General Makashov, the head of the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations, chief rabbi of Russia Adolf Shaevich, still hopes that the duma deputy who ventured judeophobic remarks will be punished. Adolf Shaevich expressed thanks for the moral support that has been demonstrated toward the Jews from representatives of other confessions, beginning with the Russian Orthodox church. (tr. by PDS)
Russian text at Sobornost
(posted 27 November 1998)
MOSCOW, 27 November (Metaphrasis). On of the largest Russian religious organizations, the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations, underwent the reregistration provided for by the law on freedom of conscience with the Ministry of Justice of RF. The congress united adherents of traditiona Judaism and comprises approximately seventy religious organizations and thirty educational institutions. The center of the congress is located in Moscow where there now are five active synagogues and four advanced religious schools which are training rabbis and cantors. Two other centralized Jewish organizations have submitted documents for reregistration, the hasidists and the Russian Association of Organizations of Contemporary Judaism. (tr. by PDS) (Russian text at Sobornost)
ORTHODOX CHURCH UNDERGOES REREGISTRATION
MOSCOW, 27 November 1998 (Metaphrasis). Certification Number 1 for the governmental reregistration of the Russian Orthodox church was delivered on 26 November to Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus. The new civil charter was adopted at the October session of the Holy Synod because of the need to bring the charter into conformity with the federal law "On freedom of conscience and religious associations."
"The church has always been and will continue to be with its people. It now has recovered the social ministry that it had lost during past decades. This includes the church parish schools, hospitals, and places of confinement," the patriarch said. "Today the church is called to be the consoler of the hearts and minds in our sick society." (tr. by PDS) (Russian text at Sobornost)
(posted 27 November 1998)
MOSCOW 26 November (Metaphrasis). In his interview with radio station "Radonezh" Archpriest Vladislav Tsypin, recalling the incident of the distant past, accused Fr Georgy Kochetkov of humiliating the assostant priest Mikhail Dubovitsky: "They took him, a completely healthy man, by force and with violence to the insane asylum. A woman parishioner of Fr. Georgy's church denied these assucations, noting: "Already a year ago the procuracy and the ministry of health established that the compulsory hospitalization of Fr Mikhail was necessary and that no force, much less violence, occurred in the church, to say nothing about the fact that Fr Georgy Kochetkov was opposed to the hospitalization but he was unable to do anything." In response to this statement another priest, Archpriest Vladimir Siloviev, accused the listener of "hysteria" and said that "this question already has been decided, and decided from all sides." (tr. by PDS)
Russian text at Sobornost
(posted 27 November 1998)
At the congress of NPSR held in Moscow the leader of the unification and head of the community party Gennady Ziuganov was unanimously reelected president of the union. The congress also elected a coordinating council consisting of leaders of all parties, movements, and associations that are members of NPSR, to which was delegated the rights of the congress (it was authorized to determine in the course of three months the most effective means for the participation of the people's patriotic forces in the parliamentary elections and subsequently to determine the candidate for the presidential elections). Congress delegates greeted with stormy applause the antisemitic statement of one of the speakers, a miner from the Vargashor mine in Vorkuts, Konstantin Pimenov, who had called for support of the statements of Albert Makashov with regard to Jews. "Dostoevsky said: Zhids will destroy Russia, and now they are doing just that," Pimenov declared to the applause of the auditorium. At the completion of its work the congress adopted an "appeal to the people of multinational Russia," in which it called representatives of "all estates, languages, and religious professions to rally under the banner of patriotism and salvation of the Motherland." (tr. by PDS)
A FAMILIAR THEME THAT POISONS RUSSIAN POLITICS
Anti-Semitism: Chauvinistic rantings are the last gasps of the old
order--holdovers from a totalitarian society.
by Nina L. Khrushcheva
Los Angeles Times, 25 November
MOSCOW--First it was the Jews. Then the Romanovs, the nobility and the kulaks. After 1991, it was Lenin and the communists. Now, it seems, it's the Jews again. Like history in the Karl Marx aphorism, Russian hatreds repeat themselves. Luckily, the rest of that saying also applies, for Moscow's most recent bout of anti-Semitism is a case of history repeating itself not as tragedy, but as farce.
The October Revolution of 1917, with its attractive slogans of internationalism, multiculturalism and ethnic equality, was a liberating time for Russian Jews. It didn't last long. With Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin embarked on another round of chest thumping for "Russia's Greatness."
This chauvinistic period, however, lasted for more than six decades and was marked by quotas for all those with not-quite-Russian-sounding names. Jews in particular were restricted in their numbers at universities, research institutes, the foreign service and in government.
The August Revolution of 1991 appeared to undo much of the anti-Semitic nastiness. Other nationalities, including people of Jewish origin, began to appear in the political spotlight: Anatoly B. Chubais, Alexander Y. Livshitz, Boris Y. Nemtsov, Grigory A. Yavlinksy and Sergei V. Kiriyenko among the reformers; Boris A. Berezovsky and Vladimir A. Gusinsky among the new plutocrats; Vladimir V. Zhirinovsky among the ranting would-be fascists. Russia, freed from its ethnic and mental straitjacket, was letting its most resourceful, entrepreneurial, vibrant and, yes, cynical, citizens climb to the top.
With so many "different" names bestriding society, it is no surprise that some Russians, reared on the endemic paranoia of communism, smelled a conspiracy. The hysterical Zhirinovsky, denying his own roots, said, "Jews are the most powerful, the most talented and the richest" and so were able to take over in 1917 and again after 1991. Communists, too, insisted that the Jews were conspiring once again to ruin Russia.
So Gen. Albert Makashov's recent remark that "the Russian government should impose quotas on hiring non-ethnic Russians" was surprising only for the time it took communists to trot out this old line and because the echo was so feeble. The two leading "nationalist" candidates for president in 2000--Alexander I. Lebed and Moscow Mayor Yuri M. Luzhkov--were conspicuous in not picking up this old battle cry.
That the Communist Party leader Gennady A. Zyuganov didn't immediately rebuke Makashov and that the Duma took a while to pass a resolution against stirring up ethnic conflicts (mentioning Makashov by name) probably reflects mental inertia rather than outright support. For Duma members, the majority Communist, there yet remains the notion that only they represent the country.
Here the old Leninist idea is in play: The party isn't just part of society, it is society. As for Zyuganov, he couldn't publicly disagree with a party member, again on hoary Leninist grounds: Division within the party will bring an end to the party.
What is surprising is the reaction at home and abroad to Makashov's tantrums. Over more than a month, TV shows and newspapers in Russia and much of the West have been discussing, condemning and thus reinforcing the incident.
This focus has, however, smoked out what may be the real target of communist rage: the media. Another Communist Duma deputy, Alexander Kuvaev, the first secretary of the city of Moscow's Communist organization, called for the formation of a special organization to deal with journalists who "sold themselves to the regime and have become the enemies of the people."
This time Zyuganov reacted quickly, listening to the voice of reason among his party peers, and issued a resolution that "prosecution is not the tool communists should exercise, and the Communist Party is the party of the future, not the party of revenge."
The saddest part of this rhetoric of hate is not that a pogrom is imminent but that mind-sets have changed so little for so many here. People continue to think in ways typical to authoritarian/totalitarian regimes, where blaming others is the standard escape for your own inadequacies and where anyone who is even the slightest bit different may be an enemy.
So the search for scapegoats proceeds, not in earnest and with energy, but as a reflex, the death throes of the old ways of doing things. The cries of the anti-Semites belie the fact that the man the Communists now support as prime minister, Yevgeny Primakov, is himself of Jewish origins. What is important is not the rants of men like Makashov and Kuvaev, but the ditherings of Zyuganov and the general silence of the Duma--a sign that, at the millennium, even the communists recognize that the vulgar old tricks are not enough.
- - -
Nina L. Khrushcheva Is Deputy Editor of the East
European Constitutional Review at
the Nyu School of Law and a Senior Fellow at the World
Policy Institute of the New School for Social Research
Copyright 1998 Los Angeles Times.
(posted 26 November 1998)
Trial of religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses has begun in Moscow
The Golovin city district court of Moscow on 17 November began to hear the case of the "Committee for the Salvation of Youth from Totalitarian Sects against the religious society of Jehovah's Witnesses." The plaintiff considers the Witnesses a destructive sect and is seeking a prohibition of the Moscow society. However several independent attorneys suggest that the trial which has begun is nothing other than an attack upon freedom of conscience in Russia.
The court was asked to clarify whether the activity of the religious society of Jehovah's Witnesses falls under article 14 of the law on freedom of religious profession. That article contains a list of thirty-five bases for liquidation of a religious society. A person who addressed the trial in the capacity of a witness for the prosecution, professor of forensic psychiatry (Serbsky hospital) Fedor Kondratiev, declared to a Segodnia reporter: "If you don't like it [the trial, editor's note], you're no patriot! Russia must be saved and saved immediately!" And with what are the Jehovists charged?
First, "destruction of the family" and "enticement of minors into the activity of the organization without the consent of the second parent." A witness for the prosecution Yury Zhuravlev managed to remove his daughter from his former wife, who had adopted the faith of the Jehovah's Witnesses. "She completely ceased caring for the house and child just as soon as she became acquainted with the Witnesses," Yury says. There also were several other instances in which the wife and child had become adherents of the Jehovists and abandoned the household of the father. One family was broken up after the adult son began giving all his money to the society. An activist of the committee Elena Riabinkina stated to us: "We wish to create a controling agency in the ministry of justice to monitor the arrival of financial means from the West at the headquarters of various sects. Because all of these sects are existing on western money. Besides, they are stealing our children!"
Second, the Jehovists are accused of "inducing suicide and refusal on religious grounds of giving aid to persons who are in life-threating condition." An ill Jehovist absolutely refused a blood transfusion of donor's blood. His relatives affirmed that he appealed to religious convictions in doing so.
Finally, members of the society are accused of "exacerbating interreligious conflict" by distributing the Watchtower and Awake magazines. In their printed publications the Jehovists insist on the truth of their own religious notions.
It seems that the Jehovists take note of all these accusations and point out that no real proofs have been presented yet in the court. Zhuravlev's daughter was removed not because of the "obscurantism" of his wife but because of her psychological illness. The law does not forbid refusal of blood transfusions. In the magazines named above the Jehovists do insist on the exclusivity of their notions but they do not advocate the prohibition of other confessions. Women leave their husbands every day by the dozens and all adults distribute money in accordance with their desires. Incidentally, yet another accusation, "infringements of the rights and freedoms of citizens," was immediately thrown out by the judge as baseless. We recall that already in 1996, on the declaration of the same Committee for Salvation of Youth, a criminal case was opened against the Moscow society of Jehovists on the basis of article 239 of the criminal code of RF, "Creation of an association which infringes on the person and rights of citizens." In the course of two years, the case was closed "for lack of the substance of a crime." A similar trial against Petersburg Jehovists was dismissed on the same basis. In an interview with a Segodnia reported, Vasily Kalin, who is the coordinator of the administrative center of the Jehovah's Witnesses, stated: "I am grateful to our government for having rehabilitated us in 1991. And I hope that today the trial will investigate the truth. We simply worship our God and we do not consider that differences in religious profession can be hinderances to peaceful coexistence. Our preachers do not swindle anyone but they merely follow Christ's command to 'go and teach all nations.'"
The procedure against the Jehovists evokes alarm among independent experts. Nikolai Gordienko, a doctor of philosophy and professor of the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University, says: "I have studied all the literature of the Jehovah's Witnesses and I affirm that it contains no violation of nor appeals for violation of the laws of the state." We note by the way that Mr. Gordienko was denied the right to testify for the defense. Another expert, distinguished attorney of Russia Yury Rozenbaum, flated stated: "I consider today's judicial practice in the cases against religious associations an attack upon freedom of conscience." It will not be superfluous to recall that in 1998, which was declared the "year of human rights" in Russia, several religious societies already have been liquidated. In Khakasiia the Evangelical Lutheran society was prohibited, in Yaroslav the church of the "New Generation" was closed, and in the Moscow suburb of Reutov the protestant "Zion" congregation was closed. According to rumors circulating in Moscow rights advocates circles, the trial of the Jehovists is the start of a new religious and political campaign. After the Witnesses the church of Moon will be taken on.
There is every reason to suggest that behind the campaign against the Jehovists and other religious societies that are nontraditional for Russia may be standing the Russian Orthodox church. Although at the RPTs press service they refused to comment on the current trial before its conclusion, the public declarations of Orthodox hierarchs are sufficiently candid. Patriarch Alexis II stated in a recent interview with the Profile magazine: "In Russia today an enormous number of foreign church, parishes, and sects are active, the activity of many of whom bears a totalitarian and destructive character. . . .Taking advantage of our difficulties, they are buying the souls of Russian people. . . . Naturally, the legislators who are thinking of the future of the country, must establish some regulatory standards."
P.S. It is noteworthy that the first court session on the Jehovists affairs was declared closed. The press was thrown out of the courtroom in the first minutes. But someone managed to "rub shoulders" with someone in the court building. To support the plaintiff, a squad from the Russian National Unity showed up, whose commander typically called the reporters who were present "Zhids."
Cast of Characters:
Defendant: The religious movement of "Jehovah's Witnesses." Founded by a preacher Charles Russell in 1872 in USA. Before 1931 it was called the "International Society of Bible Students." The new name was taken by the Jehovists from the tenth verse of the forty-third chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah: "You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen." Jehovah called the servant. Today worldwide adherents of Jehovah's Witnesses number about 15 million. Jehovists appeared in Russia at the end of the nineteenth century, they were banned under the soviet regime and existed until 1991 illegally. The Moscow society of Jehovah's Witnesses was founded in 1991 and numbers 10,000 believers. In essence the Jehovists represent one of the branches of protestantism.
Plaintiff: Committee for Salvation of Youth from Totalitarian Sects. Registered in 1993. The main task of the organization is indicated in its charter as follows: "To attain the eradication of the activity of pseudoreligious organizations for the purpose of protecting youth." The committee's declaration to the procurator of the northern administrative district says: "The activity of the Jehovah's Witnesses poses a real threat for the health of citizens, it destroys family relations and society, and it is directed against Orthodoxy." Profession of Orthodoxy is an absolute condition for membership in the committee. (tr. by PDS)
Russian text: Esli vam eto ne nravitsia
(posted 26 November 1998)
HRWF (26.11.98) - On November 18, 1998, three Jehovah's Witnessess of Tashkent prosecuted for holding a private religious meeting were sentenced to a fine. Their lawyer was not even informed by the court.
In the year of 1998, month of September, second day, the judge of Tashkent municipal court L. S. Muratova, considering the class action suit of L. M. Moiseyeva, A. V. Vorobyev, P. V. Kirilchuk, and their lawyer L. Muller on the decision of the judge of Mirzo Ulugbeksky rayon of the city of Tashkent of August 12, 1998, established:
By the decision of the judge: Ludmilla Mikhailovna Moiseyeva, born 1951, Russian, native of the Russian Federation, citizen of the Republic of Uzbekistan, working as a guard at the institute of blood transfusion, no prior convictions, and not wanted by the administrative authorities, living in the city of Tashkent, Mirzo Ulugbeksky rayon, ul. Gubkin, house 83;
Peter Vasilyevich Kirilchuk, born 1969, native of Tashkent Oblast, Ukrainian, family head at the moment unemployed, prior conviction in 1989 on Article 70 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan, sentenced to two years of imprisonment, not wanted by the administrative authorities, living in the city of Tashkent, Unusabadsky rayon, block 11, building 47, apartment 41;
Alexander Veniaminovich Vorobyev, born 1974, native of the city of Tashkent, Russian, citizen of the Republic of Uzbekistan, working as an auto mechanic at the Department of Energy, family head, no prior convictions, and not wanted by the administrative authorities, living in the city of Tashkent, Mirzo Ulugbeksky rayon, ul. Putilova, apartment 29;
each found guilty according to Article 241 of the Code of the Republic Uzbekistan and subjected to punishment in the form of a fine of 5500 soms to be paid to state revenue.
According to the decision of the judge L. M. Moiseyeva, P. V. Kirilchuk, and A. V. Vorobyev were found guilty because on August 9, 1998 at 9:30 a.m. in the home of L. M. Moiseyeva (address: Tashkent, Mirzo Ulugbeksky rayon, ul. Gubkin, apartment 83) a religious meeting was conducted with about 40 to 50 people present, and spiritual-religious doctrines were expounded in a private procedure without registration by the agencies of the state administration, without permission of the administration of religious affairs and without permission of local agencies.
L. M. Moiseyeva, P. V. Kirilchuk, A. V. Vorobyev in a class action suit indicate that they have the right to a private meeting and did not violate the law by discussing a few Bible questions, therefore do not consider themselves guilty and request that the decision of the judge be overturned.
Lawyer L. Muller in addition to the appeal indicates that arrangement by the administrative authorities and enforcement of the fine by the administration for violation of Article 241 of the Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan would contradict standards of higher legal powers, namely Articles 18, 19, and 20 part 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as Articles 11, 21, 23 and 26 of the Declaration to Eliminate All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination on the Basis of Religion or Persuasion, and that the court violated Article 315 paragraph 3 of the Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Studying the arguments of the class action suit as presented in the material of the case I consider the decision of the judge to be founded and subject to being left without changes for the following reasons:
From the case material it is clear that L. Moiseyeva, P. Kirilchuk and A. Vorobyev in August 11998 really did conduct a religious meeting with spiritual-religious doctrines in a private procedure with more than 40 people present without the permission of the administration of religious affairs and without registration by agencies of the state administration.
They did not deny this in their statements.
In her statement L. Moiseyeva is also seen to have offered her home for the meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses twice a week from about March of 1996, and received religious literature from the city of Chimkent in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
P. Kirilchuk also said in his statement that he is a member of the original group of Jehovah's Witnesses, he addressed the congregation, and knew that this privvate group did not have permission from the Ministry of Justice and that the literature of religious content was being brought in from the city of Chimkent in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
From the statement of A. V. Vorobyev it is clear that he did not have special religious education but participated in meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses and propagated this teaching without the permission of the administration of religious affairs and without reigistration by the agencies of the state administration. Vorobyev A. V. also did not deny that the religious literature was obtained at an assembly of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Chimkent in the Republic of Kazakhstan and then distributed to participants at the meeting. The religious meetings has been conducted in the home of Moiseyeva since 1996.
From the minutes of the trial it is clear that in the home of Moiseyeva August 9, 1998 a religious meeting was conducted without registration according to the established law and without the permission of the administration of religious affairs.
From the case material there is no evidence that the officials of the Internal Affairs of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Mirzo Ulugbeksky rayon violated the law of the Republic of Uzbekistan or behaved themselves inappropriately or harshly.
In harmony with established law (the constitution of the Republic of Uzbekistan, which does not contradict international standards) each citizen of the Republic of Uzbekistan has the right to freedom and personal inviolability, the right to conscience, and the right to confession of faith. At the same time, citizens are obliged to observe the constitution and the laws, which state that all societal organizations, including religious, should be registered through a procedure established by law. L. Moiseyeva, P. Kirilchuk, A. Vorobyev participated in the activity of a religious organization which was not registered through a procedure established by law, and without the permission of the administration of religious affairs propagated spiritual-religious doctrines in a private procedure.
In view of such circumstances the decision of the judge is founded. On the basis of the foregoing being directed by Article 321 of the Code of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
IT IS DECIDED:
That the decision of the judge of Mirzo Ulugbekistan rayon of the city of Tashkent of August 12, 1998 in relation to Ludmilla Mikhailovna Moiseyeva, Peter Vasilyevich Kirilchuk, and Alexander Veniaminovich Vorobyev stands without changes, their class action suit and supplement of Lawyer L. Muller is without satisfaction.
Judge Of the Tashkent Municipal Court (Signed) L. S. Muratova
Source: Lubomir Mueller
courtesy of Ray Prigodich
(posted 26 November 1998)
On 5 November a plenary session of the Constitutional Court (KS) of Russia was held at which was reviewed the appeal prepared by the Slavic Legal Center regarding the unconstitutionality of the provision of article 27, part 3, of the federal law on freedom of conscience and religious associations. Constitutional Court judge Valery Zorkin announced the case at the session.
Representatives at the KS for this appeal were the director of Slavic Legal Center and Institution of Religiou and Law Anatoly Pchlentsev and Galina Krylova, an attorney and member of the Moscow college of attorneys. In the course of the plenary session it was decided to take the case for review by the Constittuional Court of the Russian federation. Anatoly Pchlentsev answered a Radiotserkov reporter's about the time for the review of the appeal by saying that "all cases submitted to the Constitutional Court are reviewed in "general" order, independent of the questions contained in them, and thus we were told at the court that the case will be reviewed some time in the spring of next year."
Anatoly Pchelentsev also reported that at the present time the Slavic Legal Center has prepared a new appeal pertaining to other provisions of the law on freedom of conscience that contradict the constitution of RF and in the near future it will be submitted to KS. Materials for this case have been prepared by the director of the Slavic Legal Center and president of the Christian Legal Center Vladimir Riakovsky. (tr. by PDS)
Russian text at Radiotserkov
(posted 25 November 1998)
Problems with Customs have become so acute that charities fear a repeat of last year, when officers made a bonfire of toys from Sweden, as they are not listed as aid under Russian rules. Gifts from abroad are piling up in Moscow warehouses as charities struggle to get the necessary paperwork together.
Sandra Reid, a Salvation Army officer who runs two soup kitchens for the homeless, said: "We were sent 3,000 sleeping bags and 40 boxes of clothes. When we went to Customs they demanded documents from every single organisation that would receive a sleeping bag. It is a very time-consuming process. The sleeping bags arrived [at Customs] in March 1997 and we still haven't got them out."
Many providers have become tired of the delays and the flow of aid has slowed to a trickle. The Salvation Army was at one time sent tons of oil, flour and wheat every month from abroad, but in the past six months it has had to buy food, although the $500 (about £340) a month it has available is woefully inadequate.
The Russian Customs service is notoriously corrupt. "Expediting fees" are common and officials moonlight, running their own clearing companies that import the same goods that they are supposed to be checking. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many charities arrived but the bureaucracy defeated most and only a handful of international ones are still in Russia. The rest are putting their limited resources into more co-operative countries.
Vadim Samarodov, of the Red Cross, said: "The problem is that many companies were importing alcohol and cigarettes as humanitarian aid and selling them for profit. The authorities tightened the regulations last year and now it is nearly impossible to prove you are an honest person."
from Johnson's Russia List
(posted 24 November 1998)
A tradition has been established in Russia: if there is no money in the budget, then one must shake the oligarchs well. Yesterday the government found out whom it could shake. The Public Committee for the Defense of Freedom of Conscience turned Patriarch Alexis II into an oligarch and sent to Evgeny Primakov a letter with an appeal to deprive the Moscow patriarchate of tax privileges.
"The patriarchate takes up hundreds of billions of rubles of state money. The public has long known about tobacco, alcohol, petroleum, and rental business conducted under the protection of the church and about the mutually beneficial economic cooperation of the Orthodox and military hierarchies," according to the letter sent yesterday to Evgeny Primakov. Its authors called the Moscow patriarchate a "religious 'Gazprom,'" and Alexis II an oligarch. They demanded restriction of the tax privileges of the church to theological and religious educational activity and establishment of strict control over the cash flow and use of property of the RPTs.
"Why must the merchant of daily bread pay taxes but the merchant of spiritual bread need not?" declared in an interview the executive secretary of the committee Mikhail Osadchev. "And why is the information about the income and expenditures of the church secret? After all, in accordance with the law on noncommercial organizations, this cannot be a subject of a commercial secret."
The authors of the letter cast a stone into the yard of Yury Luzhkov: "It is wrong to build enormous churches with golden cupolas when the people are starving. The authority of the church sufferes from this."
At first glance it may seem that the committee has send the letter to the wrong address. The adoption of tax privileges depends on duma deputies. However the government has the right of legislative initiative and drafts of laws submitted by it are given priority of review by the State Duma. The president also submits drafts to the duma, but he is too closely tied to the patriarchate. So the committee chose the shortest course.
Primakov has been put to a test. If he does not respond to the committee's letter then that may mean that he is thinking not so much about the budget as about his own political future, counting on the blessing of the patriarch in the event that the second person of the government wants to become the first.
Meanwhile no comments from RPTs have been forthcoming. Yesterday
was a great church holiday, the Kazan icon of the Mother of God, and the
bishops had no time for the attacks from the Committee for the Defense
of Freedom of Conscience. Besides, representatives of the church, as a
rule, generally do not respond to such attacks. (tr. by PDS)
"RIGHTS DEFENDERS" AGAINST PRIVILEGES FOR MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
MOSCOW, 20 November 1998 (Metaphrasis). At the same time that the State Duma of RF is conducting discussions of the new tax code, members of the Public Committee for the Defense of Freedom of Conscience known for their anticlericalism (including Levinson, Yakunin, and Osadchev) composed and sent to Prime Minister Evgeny Primakov a letter with a request to supplement the state budget by means of depriving the Moscow patriarchate of tax privileges which should be limited to theological and religious educational activity. Mikhail Osadchev, the executive secretary of this committee, stated in an interview with the newspaper Kommersant: "Why must the merchant of daily bread pay tax while the merchant of spiritual bread need not? And why is information about the income and expenses of the church secret? After all in accordance with the law on noncommercial organizations this cannot be a matter of commercial secret." Osadchev's statement is legally incorrect in as much as according to legislation, the church is a religious associations and is not subject to the action of the law on noncommercial organizations. The reaction of the government to this letter is unknown. Representatives of the hierarchy of the Russian church also have not commented on the request. According to the currently existing tax code, religious organizations are exempt from taxes on property, land (in cases were the church is an architectural monument) and income. The church also is exempt from fees for the use of the word "Russia." (tr. by PDS)
Russian text at Sobornost/Metaphrasis
(posted 23 November 1998)
Prosecution not prepared with evidence
18 November 1998
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society
In a surprise move today, Judge Yelena Prokhorycheva adjourned the trial to ban Jehovah's Witnesses in Moscow, stating that the prosecution needs more time to prepare and submit evidence to support its case. Hearings are postponed until February 9, 1999. The Moscow prosecutor's office brought charges against Jehovah's Witnesses under the new federal law on religious associations.
"Generally, a prosecutor cannot bring charges until he has the evidence to support his claim,"said John Burns, Canadian attorney with the defense team. "Apparently, in this case the prosecution keeps delaying until it feels sure it can win,"he said. Earlier in the day, the defense had moved for dismissal due to lack of evidence.
The law on religious associations allows for action only when illegal activity has occurred, Madame Ludmilla Alekseeva, president of the Moscow Helsinki Group, commented at a roundtable when the trial was first announced two months ago. "The demands of the Prosecutor are therefore unlawful, because there is no evidence of illegal acts that could be used during the court proceedings. There was nothing criminal found in the activity of Jehovah's Witnesses."
Investigations on charges brought by the Youth Salvation Committee began in 1996. Four investigations found no evidence to support the accusations. This trial represents a fifth attempt. "Aside from the frustration and expense to Jehovah's Witnesses, it seems cruel to waste the money of the Russian people on what is obviously a spurious case," said Judah Schroeder, a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses in Brooklyn, New York. "The people of Russia deserve better than this."
Many are concerned about what this trial means to other minority groups. "What happens today with Jehovah's Witnesses should be at the center of attention of all human rights organizations, since the precedent created by the case will have serious consequences for all religious and public minorities," Alekseeva said.
V. A. Kikot, an adviser to the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, explained at the September roundtable that "arbitrary rulings by officials . . . allow them in practice to infringe the constitutional rights of Russian citizens who are adherents of religious minorities."
Contrary to prosecution assertions, Jehovah's Witnesses are respected throughout the world for their honest, law-abiding behavior and their strong family relationships. Jehovah's Witnesses have about 10,000 members in Moscow, and across Russia more than 250,000 are associated with this Christian religion. They have been active in Russia for more than 100 years. Jehovah's Witnesses practice their religion in more than 200 lands.
Additional information on the Moscow trial can be found at http://worldnews.lbtech.com
BAN OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DELAYED
by Nick Wadhams
18 November 1998
.c The Associated Press
MOSCOW (AP) -- A Moscow judge on Wednesday delayed a trial on banning Jehovah's Witnesses from operating in Russia, the first time prosecutors have brought a case under a controversial religion law.
Prosecutors in the civil trial argue the Jehovah's Witnesses destroy families, foster hatred and drive their members to insanity and suicide.
The trial opened in September, but was delayed until Tuesday. On Wednesday, Judge Yelena Prokhorycheva put if off again, until Feb. 9, after defense lawyers complained that prosecutors had withheld evidence before presenting it in court.
The prosecution ``continues to spring material and information on the defense in what is sometimes called in Western law 'trial by ambush,''' said John Burns, a lawyer in the case.
Prosecutors have called for banning the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia under a law passed last year that gives the government the right to dissolve any religious group it thinks is inciting hatred or intolerant behavior.
Western leaders say the law, designed to strengthen the Russian Orthodox Church and restrict foreign religions and cults many Russians consider dangerous, contradicts Russia's constitutional right to freedom of religion.
If banned, the Jehovah's Witnesses would no longer have the right to express their beliefs publicly, hold worship services, rent property or distribute literature.
In this week's proceedings, prosecutors said the group destroys families because the Jehovah's Witness practice of not celebrating national holidays creates rifts between family members, and their opposition to blood transfusions threatens lives.
Defense lawyers countered that Jehovah's Witnesses are not forced into the religion, and stressed that the case violates the Russian Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Jehovah's Witnesses claim to be the fifth-largest Christian group in Russia, with about 10,000 members in Moscow and more than 250,000 across the country.
Russian prosecutors have conducted four separate criminal investigations into the Jehovah's Witnesses but all were dismissed for lack of evidence, said Judah Schroeder, spokesman for the Jehovah's Witnesses headquarters in New York. He said this trial is the first time the religion law has been tested in court.
The case was brought to a civil court, where the rules of evidence are more lenient than in criminal court.
Russian officials have not strictly implemented the religion law and
have not kicked out all religious groups that haven't been in Russia for
more than 15 years, as the law requires. But they have used the law to
deny return visas to missionaries and pastors.
(posted 19 November 1998)
NALCHIK (14 November) The procurator of the republic of Dagestan issued a protestepublican law "On freedom of conscience, freedom of religious confession, and religious organizations of RD," which, in the opinion of representatives of jurisprudence, contradicts federal legislation. This pertains particularly to the point regarding the creation of Islamic religious organizations on nationalistic bases. Although the creators of the law insisted on its legitimacy, the procurator of Dagestan does not agree with this and reserves the right to take the case to court. (tr. by PDS)
Russian text at Sobornost
(posted 18 November 1998)
MOSCOW (AP) -- Jehovah's Witnesses destroy families, foster hatred and drive their members to insanity and suicide, prosecutors said in a civil trial to ban the group from operating in Moscow.
The lawsuit is the first time prosecutors have applied Russia's controversial religion law in court to try to disband religious groups.
In the case, which opened in September but was delayed until Tuesday, prosecutors argued that the group should be dissolved in Russia and its activities banned under a law that gives the government the right to disband any religious group it thinks is inciting hatred or intolerance.
Western leaders say the law -- which was designed to strengthen the Russian Orthodox Church and restrict foreign religions and cults -- contradicts Russia's constitutional right to freedom of religion.
If banned in Russia, the Jehovah's Witnesses would no longer have the right to express their beliefs publicly, hold worship services, rent property, or distribute literature.
In court on Tuesday, prosecutors tried to establish that Jehovah's Witnesses are intolerant because they claim theirs is the one true religion.
They also said the group destroys families because its practice of not celebrating national holidays creates rifts between family members, and the group's refusal of blood transfusions threatens lives.
Defense lawyers countered that Jehovah's Witnesses are not forced into the religion, and stressed that the case violates the Russian Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights.
``This should be a warning to all religious minorities in Moscow and in Russia,'' defense lawyer John Burns said. ``History shows that in Nazi Germany, Jehovah's Witnesses were among the first to be put in concentration camps by persecutors, and people here are looking at perhaps the early stages of a Nazi Germany state.''
The trial resumed today.
Jehovah's Witnesses claim to be the fifth-largest Christian group in Russia, with 10,000 members in Moscow and more than 250,000 across the country.
Russian prosecutors have conducted four separate criminal investigations into the Jehovah's Witnesses but all were dismissed for lack of evidence, said Judah Schroeder, spokesman for Jehovah's Witnesses in New York. He said Tuesday's trial was the first time the religion law has been tested in court.
Burns said the judge refused several defense motions, including one to call foreign witnesses to establish that Jehovah's Witnesses are not a cult.
Russia's Orthodox Church said Tuesday it ``considers Jehovah's Witnesses a sect and does not welcome their activity on Russian territory,'' the Interfax news agency reported.
Russian officials have promised to implement the law leniently, and have not kicked out all religious groups that haven't been in Russia for more than 15 years, as the law requires. Still, they have denied return visas to some missionaries and pastors under the law.
¿ Copyright 1998 The Associated Press
(posted 18 November 1998)
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