Source: www.forum18.org
Date: October 6, 2022
FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
https://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
==============================
Thursday 6 October 2022
OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Masked soldiers seize Mariupol pastor and wife
Church members and relatives have been unable to find out who is holding
Council of Churches Baptist Pastor Leonid Ponomaryov and his wife Tatyana,
where and why. Armed and masked men in military uniform seized them on 21
September from their home in Russian-occupied Mariupol. Neighbours
"distinctly heard groans and cries" as the masked men took them away "in an
unknown direction", local Baptists said. Military personnel searched and
sealed Ponomaryov's Baptist Church. Russian officials had initially claimed
the couple had been involved in "extremist activity".
OCCUPIED UKRAINE: Masked soldiers seize Mariupol pastor and wife
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
Armed and masked soldiers have detained Pastor Leonid Ponomaryov, Pastor of
a Baptist Council of Churches congregation in Russian-occupied Mariupol,
and his wife Tatyana. They took them from their home on the evening of 21
September. Family and church members have been unable to find out since who
took the Ponomaryovs and why, or where they are now being held.
Neighbours "distinctly heard groans and cries" as the masked men took
Leonid and Tatyana away "in an unknown direction", local Baptists said. The
two were initially taken to the police station and told that they would be
held until the Russian-controlled referendum on the status of Donetsk
Region was over. However, they were not released when the referendum
concluded on 27 September (see below).
Russian officials had initially claimed the couple had been involved in
"extremist activity" and searched the Baptist Church. They sealed the
church to prevent future meetings for worship to be held. Some other
Protestant churches – including at least one other local Council of
Churches Baptist congregation – are still able to meet for worship in
Mariupol, though others have been forcibly closed (see below).
Forum 18 has been unable to find out who has seized Pastor Leonid
Ponomaryov and his wife, or why. The duty officer at the Donetsk People's
Republic (DPR) State Security Ministry – who did not give his name –
referred all enquiries to the police. "For kidnappings, if that is the
case, you should go to the police," he told Forum 18 on 6 October. Told
that armed and masked men in army uniform took the couple, the officer
repeated his response.
The duty officer at the Russian-controlled police of Mariupol's Kalmiusky
(Ilichivsky) District, where the Ponomaryovs live, refused to answer any
questions. "We can't give any information by phone," she told Forum 18 on 6
October. She refused to put Forum 18 through to or give a phone number for
Pavel Sotnikov, the District police chief. The telephone at Mariupol City
Police went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 6 October.
The woman who answered the phone of the Missing Persons Department of the
DPR Human Rights Ombudsperson's Office in Donetsk, who would not give her
name, said that she could not provide information to third parties. "We
have a law on the protection of personal data," she told Forum 18 on 6
October. "Only relatives can appeal to our Office and must do so in
writing."
The press officer at the Ombudsperson's Office in Donetsk, who gave her
name only as Inna, referred all enquiries about the Ponomaryovs to the
police. She refused to discuss anything else on 6 October, as Forum 18 is
not accredited as a news outlet with the DPR authorities.
The telephone of the DPR General Prosecutor's Office in Donetsk went
unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 6 October.
Searching and sealing places of worship, expelling church members
Mariupol, in Ukraine's Donetsk Region, was the location of bitter fighting
following Russia's renewed invasion of Ukraine, which was launched in
February 2022. The city was finally seized by Russian troops and forces of
the Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic in May 2022.
Since then, Russian or DPR officials and soldiers in newly-occupied parts
of Donetsk Region have conducted searches in and sealed places of worship,
confiscated equipment, demanded documents, and in at least one case
forcibly expelled church members from their building. They have also
pressured some religious leaders to cut ties with Ukrainian religious
bodies and link with those in Russia (see forthcoming F18News article).
Russian officials and soldiers have conducted similar raids, searches and
enforced closures of places of worship in other regions of Ukraine they
have seized in their 2022 war. They have also pressured some religious
leaders to cut ties with Ukrainian religious bodies and link with those in
Russia or Russian-occupied Crimea (see forthcoming F18News article).
The war that followed Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine has also seen many
places of worship destroyed or damaged. Russian forces have seized many
religious leaders of a variety of religious communities. It remains unclear
in most of these cases, however, if places of worship or religious leaders
were specifically targeted to punish the exercise of freedom of religion or
belief (see forthcoming F18News article).
Severe restrictions since 2014 on exercise of the right to freedom of
religion or belief
Pro-Russian rebels seized parts of Ukraine's Donetsk Region in April 2014
and proclaimed what they called the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). Heavy
fighting ensued. Until the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the
rebel administration controlled nearly half of Ukraine's Donetsk Region.
After 2014, Mariupol remained in Ukrainian government hands until the
February 2022 Russian invasion. As of early October 2022, Russian and DPR
forces control about 60 percent of Ukraine's Donetsk Region.
Since 2014, the internationally unrecognised DPR authorities have imposed
severe restrictions on all exercise of the right to freedom of religion or
belief.
The internationally unrecognised DPR entity's June 2016 Religion Law did
not explicitly ban exercising freedom of religion or belief without
official permission but did impose other restrictions against international
human rights standards. In outlining procedures for gaining official
permission to exist the Religion Law presumed that such permission was
required. An April 2018 Religion Law amendment required all non-Moscow
Patriarchate religious organisations to re-register
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
amendment specifically banned religious organisations from functioning if
they failed to get re-registration by the deadline.
Officials routinely deny registration to disfavoured religious communities
on arbitrary grounds. Religious communities have been raided and religious
leaders fined. In summer 2021, DPR prosecutors and courts banned three
Protestant churches (https://www.forum18.org/archi
The DPR authorities have seized numerous places of worship
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
their own purposes.
Soldiers visit Mariupol church, seize pastor during worship meeting
Since Russian forces seized Mariupol, Russian police had several times
visited the home of Leonid Ponomaryov and his wife Tatyana in Kalmiusky
(Ilichivsky) District of northern Mariupol. They had also summoned him for
questioning more than once. Ponomaryov leads one of the congregations in
the city of the Council of Churches Baptists.
Council of Churches Baptists do not seek official permission to exist in
any of the countries where they operate. Their places of worship are
therefore unregistered and are the private property of one or more church
members.
In early September, military personnel came to Pastor Ponomaryov's church
in Kurchatov street in the north-east of the city. They asked church
members to open the church for the Russian-backed authorities to hold the
referendum for Ukraine's Donetsk Region to join Russia, held from 23 to 27
September. Church members refused, noted Voice of the Martyrs Korea, which
maintains contacts with local Christians. The authorities then sealed the
church building.
Church members reopened the church for their regular Sunday meeting for
worship. However, military personnel returned during the worship service
and took away Pastor Ponomaryov, who was leading the service, Voice of the
Martyrs Korea added.
The military personnel also inspected religious literature at the church,
but appear not to have found anything "extremist".
After the service, church members went to the military office with
documents proving that the house is private property. They noted that
according to the proposed DPR referendum law (adopted on 20 September), the
referendum should be held in premises provided by the authorities, not in a
private home. The authorities looked at the documents and released Pastor
Ponomaryov.
Armed and masked soldiers seize pastor and wife
On the evening of 21 September, a group of armed and masked men in Russian
or DPR military uniforms arrived at the Ponomaryovs' home in cars with no
number plates. "Seeing the military vehicles without numbers, neighbours
started to come out onto the street to find out what had happened," local
Baptists noted on 3 October. "But they were ordered to return home and not
to come out."
The armed men remained in the Ponomaryovs' home for about two and a half
hours. By now it was dark, but "the neighbours distinctly heard groans and
cries" as the masked men took Leonid and Tatyana away "in an unknown
direction", local Baptists said.
On 22 September, church members tried to find out the whereabouts of Leonid
and Tatyana Ponomaryov. "But neither then nor on subsequent days could they
get any answers," local Baptists lamented. An officer of the Russian
Interior Ministry told relatives that they should not worry as they would
be freed immediately after the referendum, which concluded on 27 September.
Also on 22 September, officials of the Russian occupation forces raided and
searched the Kurchatov street Baptist Church, seizing religious literature
and sealing the building, local Baptists noted.
Some other Protestant churches – including at least one other Council of
Churches Baptist congregation – are still able to meet for worship in
Mariupol. Another Council of Churches congregation held its Harvest
Festival worship service on Sunday 2 October "despite the recent events",
local Baptists noted.
Church members search for missing pastor and wife
On 30 September, two pastors from the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don
travelled to Mariupol to try to find out where Leonid and Tatyana
Ponomaryov are being held and why they were seized. Together with Leonid's
brother Viktor Ponomaryov, they visited the DPR State Security Ministry,
military headquarters, Prosecutor's Office and police. "But at all these
agencies they received the almost identical response: 'They're not here and
we don't know where they are.'"
The three then travelled to Donetsk to try to get answers from the DPR
Interior Ministry and State Security Ministry secret police. "There too
they were given exactly the same answers," local Baptists noted. The three
then lodged a written application to the DPR Interior Ministry. "The
application was accepted and they were promised an answer within 30 days."
As the three men were returning to Mariupol from Donetsk, police phoned
them and asked them to go to Leonid and Tatyana Ponomaryov's home. Present
at the home were several investigators. "They questioned his brother Viktor
and the neighbours, wrote it down in brief and then left," local Baptists
said. Officers had refused to say if the family would receive any answers.
"In all their meetings with officials of various entities, when church
members asked them to identify themselves none of the representatives of
the authorities would give their name, rank or position," church members
noted.
Children appeal for seized parents
On 1 October, the Ponomaryovs' children issued a statement thanking church
members for prayers for their parents. "For 10 days already we know nothing
about them," they wrote. "A group of church members from Mariupol and
Rostov went round all the agencies and institutions, not only in Mariupol
but in the regional centre [Donetsk], and were told nothing about our
parents anywhere."
The Ponomaryovs' children added that various churches were praying for
their parents and fasting on 2 and 3 October. They asked for information to
be spread widely.
In a 3 October statement to its members and congregations internationally,
the International Council of Churches asked for appeals for the Ponomaryovs
to be sent "ONLY from churches of the Russian Federation". (END)
Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Donbas
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Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Occupied
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