Source: www.forum18.org
Date: August 29, 2023
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18, and Olga Glace, Forum 18
After the regime seized and later demolished its church, banned its website
and, on 23 August, a Minsk court declared two of its internet postings from
nearly three years ago "extremist", Minsk's New Life Pentecostal Church
faces an unclear future, a church member said. Asked if the regime is
planning to strip the Church of its legal status, Deputy Plenipotentiary
for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Sergei Gerasimenya refused to say. "We
give no comments by phone," he repeatedly told Forum 18.
Human rights defender organisation Christian Vision told Forum 18 in
mid-August (https://www.forum18.org/archi
suspect that formally finding that the Church published allegedly
"extremist materials" is a prelude to the Church being "legally" forcibly
closed.
On 28 August, New Life Church received by post the court decision declaring
two of their internet postings from 2020 "extremist". Minsk Prosecutor's
Office claims to have discovered the postings only on 14 July 2023. Judge
Tatyana Skopets at Minsk's Central District Court heard the Prosecutor's
suit at a closed hearing on 23 August at which only she and her secretary
were present. No Prosecutor's Office official attended the hearing. The
Church's representative and church members were refused admittance to the
hearing (see below).
Judge Skopets' secretary, Aleksandra Levkevich, said on 29 August that the
Judge is now on holiday. Levkevich said she did not know who had declared
the hearing closed. "That means that only duly authorised representatives
of the parties could be present," she told Forum 18. "The representative of
the Church had no document confirming that he was the authorised
representative of the Church so he was not let in. We explained it to
them." The Prosecutor gave no reason for failing to attend, she added (see
below).
The materials Judge Skopets deemed "extremist" (which have already been
deleted) are:
- a video posted on YouTube by New Life on 21 November 2020 protesting
against the regime's violence against protestors objecting to election
fraud;
- and an Instagram post of 17 August 2020: "Prayer for Belarus. On 16
August after the morning worship service the New Life Church congregation
came outside making up a prayer chain and holding the Bible in their hands.
As Christians we condemn the recent violence and cruelty and appeal to the
authorities to repent" (see below).
The two posts from 2020 "are directed at undermining the authority of the
powers that be and their representatives, discredit the organs of state
power and administration, bear a clearly politicised and engaged character
and are addressed to an indeterminate circle of people", the Judge wrote in
her decision, taking the words verbatim from the Prosecutor's suit (see
below).
The posts "contain clearly false information about the political and social
position in Belarus and the legal situation of citizens", the court
concluded. It added that no special analysis of the materials was needed
because the postings contained "direct calls to extremist actions", though
it did not specify what these actions might be or whether there had been
any since 2020 (see below).
Ahead of the hearing, Minsk Prosecutor's Office refused to discuss with
Forum 18 its suit to have these materials banned as "extremist" (see
below).
The Judge's secretary said that neither New Life Church nor the Prosecutor
has appealed against the court decision so far. Asked if the Church will
appeal, a church member told Forum 18: "There's no point, unfortunately"
(see below).
The regime seized and bulldozed New Life Church and has already blocked the
Church's website (see below).
Vyacheslav Goncharenko, New Life's Pastor, was freed on 24 August after
serving in full his 10-day jail term following his 14 August arrest. He was
freed the day after the closed hearing to declare two internet posts
"extremist material" containing "deliberately false information on
political and social situation in the Republic of Belarus". The Church's
youth pastor Ilya Budai was freed on 19 August after serving a five-day
jail term (see below).
Asked what the future for New Life Church is, a church member responded:
"That's not clear at the moment" (see below).
Meanwhile, on 16 August, Miory District Court declared the Telegram channel
of the Christian Vision group to be "extremist". The group documents
violations of freedom of religion or belief and other human rights. "We
were not invited to the court and of course not given the court decision,"
a member of Christian Vision told Forum 18 (see below).
Miory District Court refused to say whether the suit to ban Christian
Vision's Telegram channel as "extremist" had been lodged by the
Prosecutor's Office, why the suit had been lodged to that court, or which
judge had handed down the decision. Prosecutor Andrei Vetyugov at Miory
Prosecutor's Office similarly refused to discuss anything (see below).
Years of regime pressure
New Life Pentecostal Church was formed in 1992. It bought its building - a
former cowshed on the western edge of Minsk – in 2002. The Church
converted the building into its place of worship, turning it into a
spacious, modern structure, but the regime refused to change its legal
designation (https://www.forum18.org/archi
cowshed.
The regime repeatedly tried to evict New Life Church from 2009 onwards, and
on 17 February 2021 30 police and court bailiffs forcibly evicted New Life
from its building, using an angle grinder to cut the door lock to gain
entry. On 20 June 2023, the regime began bulldozing New Life's church
building (https://www.forum18.org/archi
The regime has used a variety of threats against New Life Church and other
religious communities it dislikes, including an August 2021 tax demand for
458,918.22 Belarusian Roubles - equivalent to more than 25 years' average
wages for someone in work. On 18 July 2023 the tax demand was renewed.
Housing Repair and Utilities Association Deputy Head Nataliya Kalistratova
refused to explain to Forum 18
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
claim was being renewed.
On 3 August, Minsk's Oktyabrsky District Tax Office requested New Life's
annual financial reports
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
relating to the Excurs Trans Company which transported children to the
Church's summer camp and whose bus was involved in an accident on 10 July.
The accident led to hostile media coverage and Prosecutor's Office question
of people connected with the camp.
New Life Pastors freed
Vyacheslav Goncharenko, New Life Church's Pastor, was freed on 24 August
2023 from Minsk District Police Detention Centre after serving in full his
10-day jail term, church members told Forum 18. He was freed the day after
the closed hearing at Minsk's Central District Court upheld the
Prosecutor's suit to declare two internet posts "extremist material"
containing "deliberately false information on political and social
situation in the Republic of Belarus" (see below).
The Church's youth pastor Ilya Budai was freed from the same Detention
Centre on 19 August after serving in full his five-day jail term, church
members added.
Pastor Goncharenko and Pastor Budai were arrested on 14 August after 20
armed police officers from the Organised Crime and Corruption Department
raided Pastor Goncharenko's house. The officers also searched the house.
Minsk District Court jailed the two the following day
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
A human rights defender suggested to Forum 18 on 15 August
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Pastor Goncharenko's imprisonment was dictated by the regime's wish to stop
him attending the 23 August "extremist materials" hearing.
Deputy Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
refused to answer any questions, including about regime pressure on New
Life Church. "We give no comments by phone," he repeatedly told Forum 18 on
29 August.
Two 2020 New Life postings declared "extremist" in 2023
New Life Church's website was blocked without warning on 25 July. This is a
tactic which the regime has used with the excuse of alleged "extremism"
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
organisations.
New Life was without warning sent a document (seen by Forum 18) signed by
Minsk Prosecutor Oleg Lavrukhin on 25 July, which bans the website for 6
months (https://www.forum18.org/archi
the Church of publishing "extremist" information and "building up threats
to national security, which includes artificially whipping up tensions in
society and inciting social hostility or discord through the dissemination
of false information".
On 4 August, Minsk's Central District Court sent a notification to New Life
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
hearing to consider a suit lodged by Minsk Prosecutor's First Deputy, Oleg
Avdei. This demands that two internet posts be declared "extremist
material" (https://www.forum18.org/archi
"deliberately false information on the political and social situation in
the Republic of Belarus." These are:
- a video posted on YouTube by New Life on 21 November 2020 protesting
against the regime's violence against protestors objecting to election
fraud (https://www.forum18.org/archi
administrator Vitaly Antonchikov suspected that this was the reason for the
sudden eviction of the Church from its building;
- and an Instagram post on 17 August 2020 quoted by Prosecutor Lavrukhin:
"Prayer for Belarus. On 16 August after the morning worship service the New
Life Church congregation came outside making up a prayer chain and holding
the Bible in their hands. As Christians we condemn the recent violence and
cruelty and appeal to the authorities to repent."
These materials have already been removed from the internet.
Minsk Prosecutor's Office on 8 August refused to discuss with Forum 18
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
these materials banned as "extremist".
Judge Tatyana Skopets at Minsk's Central District Court heard the suit at a
closed hearing on 23 August at which only she and her secretary were
present. "The hearing to recognise some of the Church's information
production extremist materials was declared closed and they did not allow
people in to listen to the judicial process," New Life Church noted the
same day. "They also informed that they will send a copy of the court
decision the next day by post."
The two posts from 2020 "are directed at undermining the authority of the
powers that be and their representatives, discredit the organs of state
power and administration, bear a clearly politicised and engaged character
and are addressed to an indeterminate circle of people", the Judge wrote in
her decision (seen by Forum 18), taking the words verbatim from the
Prosecutor's suit.
The posts "contain clearly false information about the political and social
position in Belarus and the legal situation of citizens", the court
concluded. Echoing the view of the Prosecutor, it added that no special
analysis of the materials was needed because the postings contained "direct
calls to extremist actions", though it did not specify what these actions
might be or whether there had been any since 2020.
The decision says that the parties to the case did not come to the court
for the hearing although they had been duly informed of it. It did not say
that New Life's representative and church members were barred from the
hearing. Nor did it explain why the Prosecutor's Office did not send a
representative.
In her decision, Judge Skopets instructed the Information Ministry to
include the two items she found "extremist" to be added to the "Republican
List of Extremist Materials" and to take measures to block access to them
in the country (though both have already been removed). She said the
banning order had to be "immediately implemented". She added that the
decision can be appealed against to Minsk City Court within 15 days of the
issuing of the written decision.
Judge Skopets' secretary, Aleksandra Levkevich, said on 29 August that the
Judge is now on holiday. She refused to comment on the decision itself,
insisting that it had been "based on the case materials".
Levkevich said she did not know who had declared the hearing closed. "That
means that only duly authorised representatives of the parties could be
present," she told Forum 18. "The representative of the Church had no
document confirming that he was the authorised representative of the Church
so he was not let in. We explained it to them." The Prosecutor gave no
reason for failing to attend, she added.
The Judge's secretary said that neither New Life Church nor the Prosecutor
has appealed against the court decision so far.
The Church received the written decision by post on 28 August "extremist".
Asked by Forum 18 if the Church will appeal against the court decision, a
church member responded: "There's no point, unfortunately."
Asked what the future for New Life Church is, the church member responded:
"That's not clear at the moment."
Christian Vision channel declared "extremist"
On 16 August, Miory District Court in Vitebsk Region declared the Telegram
channel of the Christian Vision group (https://t.me/s/christianvisio
be "extremist". Representatives of various Christian Churches across
Belarus formed the group in September 2020, amid protests against the
falsified presidential elections, to document violations of freedom of
religion or belief and other human rights.
The decision became public on 19 August when Christian Vision's Telegram
channel was included in the Information Ministry's "Republican List of
Extremist Materials". It said the banning order had to be "immediately
implemented".
Miory District Court refused to say whether the suit to ban Christian
Vision's Telegram channel as "extremist" had been lodged by the
Prosecutor's Office, why the suit had been lodged to that court, or which
judge had handed down the decision. "No one will give you such information
as you are not a party to the case," the court secretary told Forum 18 on
21 August.
Asked if such a decision can be challenged, the court secretary said an
interested party could lodge a supervisory appeal to the Prosecutor's
Office, or possibly appeal to the Regional Court. However, she did not seem
sure about whether such appeals would be possible.
"Of course, we're against extremism and extremist ideologies," a Christian
Vision member who asked not to be identified told Forum 18 on 28 August.
"We were not invited to the court and of course not given the court
decision. As we don't have legal personality, the question arises: who
could appeal against the decision?"
Forum 18 was unable to find out why Miory Prosecutor's Office lodged the
suit and whether it can be challenged as Prosecutor Andrei Vetyugov
absolutely refused to discuss anything. "We do not give any information on
the phone, come to us in person," he told Forum 18 on 23 August before
putting the phone down.
The Christian Vision member speculated that the suit might have been
brought to Miory District Court as two local Catholic priests – Fr Andrei
Kulik and Fr Vyacheslav Adamovich - had been arrested there in May and
officials had searched their phones.
Forum 18 was unable to ask why Christian Vision's Telegram channel had been
declared "extremist" for monitoring violations of freedom of religion or
belief as Deputy Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
refused to answer any questions on 29 August.
Ever-expanding "Republican List of Extremist Materials"
The Information Ministry's "Republican List of Extremist Materials"
includes many xenophobic and racist works (such as Adolf Hitler's "Mein
Kampf"), as well as material produced by the political opposition and
foreign-based news websites. It also includes some religious materials –
like the Christian Vision Telegram channel - that do not call for the
violation of anyone's human rights. All had been banned as "extremist" by a
local court.
The List has been expanding rapidly as ever more publications, websites and
internet postings are declared "extremist". The List, with the latest
addition on 22 August, runs to 693 pages. (At the end of 2022 it ran to 480
pages (https://www.forum18.org/archi
A Greek Catholic news website and a YouTube interview with a Catholic
priest who fled to neighbouring Poland in 2021 to escape prosecution are
among religious items to be banned by local courts as "extremist" and added
to the "Republican List of Extremist Materials"
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
religious works include an introduction to Orthodoxy published in Russia's
capital Moscow and added to the Republican List in 2016, as well as several
Muslim books. Anyone who distributes any of these works risks criminal
prosecution.
Deputy Information Minister Igor Buzovsky, who is also Deputy Chair of the
"Republican Expert Commission for the Evaluation of Symbols, Attributes,
and Information Products for the presence (or absence) in them of signs of
Extremism", defended the banning of specific publications and websites as
"extremist". "This is done exclusively on the basis of the law," he
insisted to Forum 18 in January 2023
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Belarus
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
For more background, see Forum 18's Belarus religious freedom survey
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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