Source: www.forum18.org
Date: January 4, 2024
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
Two leading state officials warned hundreds of Orthodox clergy that those
violating strict state restrictions would face punishment. Olga
Chemodanova, Head of the Ideology Department of Minsk City Executive
Committee, told priests of Minsk Orthodox Diocese that during the past
year, state agencies had "monitored" more than 500 religious communities.
Officials had prevented the distribution of "extremist" literature and had
discovered that prayers were being said in church for the victory of
Ukraine in the war (something she clearly did not like).
In his address at the clergy meeting on 20 December 2023, Plenipotentiary
for Religious and Ethnic Affairs Aleksandr Rumak (the regime's senior
religious affairs official) warned the clergy forcefully that there was to
be no politics in church. He also warned that no "non-religious symbols"
should be displayed in churches (see below).
Rumak's warnings echoed some of the provisions of the new Religion Law,
approved by the non-freely elected parliament in December 2023 and now
signed into law by Aleksandr Lukashenko (see forthcoming F18News article).
Fr Aleksandr Shramko, who served in Minsk Orthodox Diocese until November
2019, says that the Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs and
some of his officials would sometimes attend clergy meetings. "It was not
so often, but it happened." However, he does not recall Ideology Department
officials attending and speaking. Nor does he recall officials threatening
the clergy during meetings he attended (see below).
Fr Aleksandr says the situation changed in 2020, the year of mass protests
at the falsified presidential elections. "Until then, the authorities
believed that all was under control. They had contact with the hierarchy
and believed the Church was under control," he told Forum 18. "But they
discovered it wasn't so. They understood that they needed to step up the
pressure, not just on the hierarchy but on the lower clergy" (see below).
Reached on 3 January 2024, Chemodanova told Forum 18 she was busy and asked
it to call back in 15 minutes. She did not subsequently answer her phone.
Forum 18 asked to speak to Plenipotentiary Rumak on 4 January. His
secretary asked what Forum 18 wanted to talk about. When Forum 18 explained
that it had questions about his address to the Minsk clergy as well as the
new Religion Law, the secretary responded: "Aleksandr Rumak does not give
interviews by phone." She would not explain why not (see below).
The secretary of Minsk Diocese, Fr Andrei Volkov, did not respond to Forum
18's question as to whether the Diocese had invited Chemodanova and Rumak
to address the clergy meeting or if the two officials had themselves
decided to attend (see below).
Chemodanova drafted letters on behalf of Minsk City Executive Committee in
2022 threatening the city's New Life Full Gospel Church over holding Sunday
services in the car park of its confiscated church building, which the
regime bulldozed in June 2023 (see below).
On 12 December 2023, the Supreme Court in Minsk upheld the lower court
decision to liquidate New Life Church. Deputy Head of Minsk City Executive
Committee's Ideology, Religion, and Ethnic Affairs Coordination Department
Yekaterina Kaverina – who initiated the liquidation suit - again appeared
in court to support it. She had called for the Church's liquidation because
local courts had found some of the Church's online materials "extremist".
She also claimed that the Church had conducted activity not set out in its
statute (see below).
Kaverina insisted to church members in the court room that she was a state
official and had no choice in bringing the suit against New Life Church.
Church members asked her if it was not absurd that a thousand-member Church
was being liquidated because of an online video that had been deleted. She
insisted that the court would decide (see below).
Kaverina refused to answer any questions. "I will not give you any
comment," she told Forum 18, before putting the phone down (see below).
Now that New Life Church has been liquidated, any future activity in the
exercise of freedom of religion or belief could lead to a fine or jail term
(see below).
At least 11 individuals in 2023 are known to have been punished under
Administrative Code Article 24.23 ("Violation of the procedure for
organising or conducting a mass event or demonstration") for exercising
freedom of religion or belief without state permission. Ten were fined up
to two months' average wage, while the other received a ten-day jail term
(see below).
Officials warn clergy against violating strict state restrictions
Two leading state officials warned hundreds of Orthodox clergy that those
violating strict state restrictions would face punishment. The officials
were speaking to the 239 participants in a clergy meeting of Minsk Diocese
of the Belarusian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, held in
Minsk's Belarus hotel on 20 December 2023.
The warnings came in speeches to the meeting by Olga Chemodanova, Head of
the Ideology Department of Minsk City Executive Committee, and Aleksandr
Rumak, Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
religious affairs official). The Minsk Diocese's account of the clergy
meeting published on the Church website the same day noted only that the
two officials spoke about "current issues of church-state relations".
However, Christian Vision, a group which documents violations of freedom of
religion or belief and other human rights, notes the threats, particularly
from Chemodanova. "Her address contained open threats towards priests who
are ideologically alien," it said on 22 December
(https://belarus2020.churchby.
"Chemodanova gave them to understand that they should expect prison."
(In August and September 2023, three different courts declared Christian
Vision's social media sites and logo "extremist"
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
to the Republican List of Extremist Materials
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Chemodanova told the clergy that during the past year, state agencies had
"monitored" more than 500 religious communities. During such "monitoring",
officials had prevented the distribution of "extremist" literature and had
discovered that prayers were being said in church for the victory of
Ukraine in the war (something she clearly did not like). She particularly
singled out one priest.
Chemodanova complained that 75 per cent of Orthodox priests in Minsk do not
speak up in the (state-run) media, with only St Elisabeth's convent and All
Saints Church (both known as loyal to the regime) doing so.
Chemodanova demanded that parish websites be "brought into order", adding
that their content was being monitored, according to Christian Vision.
In his address, Plenipotentiary Rumak warned the clergy forcefully that
there was to be no politics in church. He also warned that no
"non-religious symbols" should be displayed in churches.
Forum 18 tried to find out why the two officials warned and threatened
Minsk Orthodox Diocese's clergy and who had initiated their participation
in the meeting.
Reached on 3 January 2024, Chemodanova told Forum 18 she was busy and asked
it to call back in 15 minutes. She did not subsequently answer her phone
that day or on 4 January.
Forum 18 asked to speak to Plenipotentiary Rumak on 4 January. His
secretary asked what Forum 18 wanted to talk about. When Forum 18 explained
that it had questions about his address to the Minsk clergy as well as the
new Religion Law, the secretary responded: "Aleksandr Rumak does not give
interviews by phone." She would not explain why not.
On 4 January, Forum 18 asked the secretary of Minsk Diocese, Fr Andrei
Volkov, in writing whether the Diocese had invited Chemodanova and Rumak to
address the clergy meeting or if the two officials had themselves decided
to attend. Forum 18 had received no response by the end of the working day
in Minsk of 4 January.
Dozens of Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant clergy and laypeople have been
given fines or short-term jail sentences since 2020, especially for sharing
or liking news items on social media from websites the regime has declared
"extremist", as Christian Vision has documented
(https://belarus2020.churchby.
A number of clergy have fled Belarus, fearing possible punishment. Orthodox
priest Fr Andrei Nozdrin left his parish in the village of Komotovo in the
western Grodno Region after the liturgy on 25 December 2023. He is now in
Poland, he announced on his Facebook page on 30 December 2023. In April
2022, police warned Fr Andrei, and his Diocese transferred him to a remote
parish (https://www.forum18.org/archi
publicly opposed Russia's renewed invasion of Ukraine, Belarus' role in
this, and his congregation sang the hymn Mighty God, which the regime has
tried to ban.
"There weren't threats" from officials at earlier clergy meetings
Fr Aleksandr Shramko, who served in Minsk Orthodox Diocese until it banned
him from serving in November 2019, says that the Plenipotentiary for
Religious and Ethnic Affairs and some of his officials would sometimes
attend clergy meetings. "It was not so often, but it happened," he told
Forum 18 on 4 January from Lithuania, where he how lives. "It was always
the then Plenipotentiary Leonid Gulyako or one of his officials, never
someone from the Ideology Department."
Fr Aleksandr does not recall officials threatening the clergy during
meetings he attended. "We were able to ask questions. I asked Gulyako a
question, and his response was insulting towards me rather than answering
the question. But there weren't threats."
Fr Aleksandr says the situation changed in 2020, the year of mass protests
at the falsified presidential elections. "Until then, the authorities
believed that all was under control. They had contact with the hierarchy
and believed the Church was under control," he told Forum 18. "But they
discovered it wasn't so. They understood that they needed to step up the
pressure, not just on the hierarchy but on the lower clergy."
Officials' warnings reinforce provisions of new Religion Law
In their addresses to Minsk Orthodox Diocese clergy, Olga Chemodanova and
Aleksandr Rumak were reinforcing state restrictions to be imposed just
weeks later in the repressive new Religion Law
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Plenipotentiary Rumak – whose office drafted the new Law - stated in his
June 2023 justification for it
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
wants, among other things, to ban religious communities from using any
symbols apart from religious symbols and ban "the activity of religious
communities directed against the sovereignty of the Republic of Belarus,
its constitutional system and civic accord".
The proposed Law was approved by the lower chamber of the regime's
non-freely elected parliament, the House of Representatives, on 29 November
2023 and by the upper chamber, the Council of the Republic, on 13 December
2023. Aleksandr Lukashenko then signed it into law, his press service
announced on 3 January 2024 (see forthcoming F18News article).
Plenipotentiary Rumak also told the assembled priests that the Belarusian
Orthodox Church had more foreign citizens working in religious roles than
any other religious community in Belarus.
The regime has consistently tried to reduce the number of foreign citizens
the Plenipotentiary allows to work in registered religious organisations.
The Plenipotentiary has often rejected applications by leaders of religious
organisations for permission to bring in foreign citizens
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
applications by Orthodox and Catholic bishops.
The last foreign Catholic priest known to have been forced to leave Belarus
was Polish citizen Fr Jozef Geza, who had served as parish priest in the
western city of Grodno since 1997. He left in December 2022
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Rumak refused his bishop's request to extend permission for him to continue
to serve in the country.
Chemodanova – from police spokesperson to ideologist
Police Colonel Olga Chemodanova was spokesperson for the Interior Ministry
(which controls the police) from December 2018 until her removal in October
2021. During mass protests at the regime's falsification of election
results in autumn 2020, she defended the police's brutal crackdown. The
European Union added her to its sanctions list in June 2021.
Chemodanova was then appointed Head of the Ideology Department of Minsk
City Executive Committee, where she has been involved in restricting
religious communities' rights to freedom of religion or belief.
Chemodanova drafted the 1 August 2022 official letter, signed by Deputy
Chair of Minsk City Executive Committee Artyom Tsuran, warning New Life
Full Gospel Church that it had broken the law by holding Sunday services in
the car park of its confiscated building
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
official permission. It warned that if the "violation" is repeated within a
year, the regime's senior religious affairs official, Plenipotentiary
Rumak, could go to court to liquidate the Church, with a possible ban on
its activity as the court considers the suit.
Chemodanova similarly drafted subsequent letters to New Life Church on
behalf of Tsuran.
Years of state pressure on Minsk's New Life Church
New Life Church was founded in Minsk in 1992, gaining state registration in
December of that year. The Church is a member of the Full Gospel Union,
headed by Bishop Leonid Voronenko, and has been led since its foundation by
Pastor Vyacheslav Goncharenko.
The regime always refused to change the legal designation of the Church's
place of worship, a former cowshed. From 2009, officials repeatedly tried
to evict the Church. On 17 February 2021, 30 police and court bailiffs
forcibly evicted New Life from its building
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
grinder to cut the door lock to gain entry.
After being expelled from its own place of worship, New Life Church held
its worship services in the car park outside each Sunday, whatever the
weather. Minsk City Executive Committee refused to allow such meetings.
Pastor Goncharenko was detained and fined in September 2022
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Code Article 24.23 ("Violation of the procedure for organising or
conducting a mass event or demonstration"). Another pastor was similarly
detained and fined.
On 25 September 2022, police banned the Church's Sunday meeting for worship
in its car park, threatening to detain anyone who did not leave. On 20 June
2023, officials bulldozed New Life's church building
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
New Life Church also faced tax demands. In August 2023, decisions from
several courts declared some of the Church's online materials "extremist"
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
already been blocked.
In August 2023, 20 armed police officers from the Organised Crime and
Corruption Department searched Pastor Goncharenko's home in Minsk. The
following day, a court jailed him for 10 days and the Church's youth pastor
for 5 days (https://www.forum18.org/archi
jailing of Pastor Goncharenko appeared timed to prevent him taking part in
the first of the court hearings to declare the Church's internet materials
"extremist".
Supreme Court finally liquidates New Life Church
On 15 September 2023, Minsk City Executive Committee lodged a liquidation
suit against New Life Full Gospel Church to Minsk City Court. The City
Court upheld the suit on 17 October 2023
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
appealed against the decision to the Supreme Court in Minsk. The decision
did not come into force until the appeal was heard.
Deputy Head of Minsk City Executive Committee's Ideology, Religion, and
Ethnic Affairs Coordination Department Yekaterina Kaverina called for the
Church's liquidation because local courts had found some of the Church's
online materials "extremist". She also claimed that the Church had
conducted activity not set out in its statute. The Minsk City Court
decision does not specify what that activity was
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
At a two-hour hearing at the Supreme Court on the morning of 12 December
2023, a panel of three Judges led by Judge Sergei Nikolayev upheld Minsk
City Executive Committee's suit to liquidate New Life Church. Kaverina of
Minsk City Executive Committee again appeared in court to support the
liquidation suit.
Church members joined Pastor Vyacheslav Goncharenko at the Supreme Court
for the appeal hearing. Sergiy Melyanets, a member of another Minsk
Protestant Church, was also present to support church members. He noted the
contrast with the lower court hearing, where only a small number of church
members were allowed in the small court room, allegedly because of
coronavirus restrictions
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
church members were allowed to attend the Supreme Court hearing, he noted,
with others waiting outside.
"There was not one police officer in the court room," Melyanets noted on
Facebook later that day. "This is very strange, given that the judges have
gathered to consider the liquidation of an organisation that (in the
authorities' view) had engaged in extremist actions."
The Church's lawyer "repeated what had been said in earlier hearings that
it was not allowed simply to take and liquidate the church which has served
people, society, and God for 31 years simply because of several items
placed on the internet which were deemed extremist. Even more so as the
items were removed immediately after the court decision", Melyanets noted.
"It turns out that in our country you can," he commented.
In his testimony, Pastor Goncharenko spoke of the work the Church had done
over decades, including many social projects to help orphans, and those
with drug and alcohol dependency. "We have worked and created for 31 years
and here we suddenly discover that our church is being liquidated because
we got involved in some kind of extremism," he told the court. "This word
is for me like an insult. It cannot be associated with us in any way."
Asked about why the Church had not removed a video from three years earlier
the court found extremist, Pastor Goncharenko reminded the court that
Church member and retired deputy head of the Constitutional Court Valery
Fadeyev that the videos did not represent "extremism".
The chair of the Judges, Nikolayev, prevented Church members from speaking
about its work over 31 years, insisting that they should speak only about
the "issue in contention".
City Executive Committee official Kaverina said little during the hearing,
merely confirming its suit to liquidate New Life Church.
"After a few minutes the judges come out and read the decision. No
surprises"
After nearly two hours, the Judges withdrew for about half an hour to
consider their decision. "This was very strange," Melyanets commented.
"Usually in such hearings where I have been present (including when I was
before the court), after the final presentation by both sides the Judge
immediately took from their case the printed court decision, not hiding
that the decision had been taken even before the court hearing."
As they waited for the Judges to return, Church members asked Kaverina of
the City Executive Committee why she had not spoken about the good the
Church had done for society in cooperation with the Executive Committee.
"In my time nothing good was done," Melyanets quotes her as responding. The
official admitted she had not long been in the job.
Kaverina insisted to church members in the court room that she was a state
official and had no choice in bringing the suit against New Life Church.
Church members asked her if it was not absurd that a thousand-member Church
was being liquidated because of an online video that had been deleted. She
insisted that the court would decide.
"After a few minutes the judges come out and read the decision," Melyanets
noted. "No surprises." The Judges upheld the lower court decision
liquidating New Life Church. The decision cannot be appealed further and
came into force on being delivered in the court room.
As of 4 January 2024, the Supreme Court has not yet issued the decision in
writing.
Kaverina of Minsk City Executive Committee refused to answer any questions.
"I will not give you any comment," she told Forum 18 on 3 January, before
putting the phone down.
New Life Pastor questioned
On 22 December, the Investigative Committee summoned New Life Pastor
Vyacheslav Goncharenko for questioning. He was released later in the day
and returned home, his wife noted the same day.
Investigators questioned Pastor Goncharenko about a traffic accident on 10
July 2023, when a bus carrying 50 children going to the Church's summer
camp overturned due to a poorly-maintained road. No serious injuries were
reported, and parents have not made any complaints
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
the camps, or New Life Church and its leadership.
On the same day, the state-controlled media Minsk Pravda published online a
detailed report of the accident quoting the participants and the officials
dealing with it. The article was written in neutral tones, without any
criticism, stating that the reason for the accident was the poor quality of
the road surface.
The next day, Minsk Pravda published a totally different article, and
almost immediately Minsk Prosecutor's Office started summoning people
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
summer camp for questioning.
Threat of criminal prosecution
Now that New Life Church has been liquidated, any future activity in the
exercise of freedom of religion or belief could lead to a fine or jail
term.
Any activity by unregistered or liquidated religious communities can lead
to prosecution under Criminal Code Article 193-1
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
"organisation of or participation in activity by an unregistered political
party, foundation, civil or religious organisation" with a fine or
imprisonment for up to two years.
At least eleven individuals given fines, short-term jailing in 2023
At least 11 individuals in 2023 are known to have been punished under
Administrative Code Article 24.23 ("Violation of the procedure for
organising or conducting a mass event or demonstration") for exercising
freedom of religion or belief without state permission. Punishments are a
fine of up to 100 base units (about two months' average wage), or community
service, or 15 days' imprisonment.
The 11 individuals known to have been punished in 2023, according to
decisions seen by Forum 18:
- 28 April 2023, seven young Protestants
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
streets, Minsk's Central District Court, each fined between 90 and 100 base
units, between 3,330 and 3,700 Belarusian Roubles
- 2 June 2023, Council of Churches Baptist Vladimir Burshtyn
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
meeting, Drogichin District Court, Brest Region, 15 base units, 555
Belarusian Roubles
- 26 July 2023, leader of an unregistered Church
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Court, Minsk Region, fined 25 base units, 925 Belarusian Roubles
- 15 September 2023, Orthodox Christian Nikolai Bondar
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
pilgrimage, Beshenkovichi District Court, Vitebsk Region, fined 20 base
units, 740 Belarusian Roubles
- 2023, religious believer, led outdoor religious event without state
permission, 10 day jail term
This compares with at least 8 individuals (seven of them Protestants
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Goncharenko of New Life Church, and one of traditional folk beliefs) known
to have been punished under Administrative Code Article 24.23 in 2022.
(END)
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Belarus
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
For background information, see Forum 18's Belarus religious freedom survey
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Forum 18's compilation of for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
freedom of religion or belief commitments
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Follow us on Twitter @Forum_18 (https://twitter.com/forum_18)
Follow us on Facebook @Forum18NewsService
(https://www.facebook.com/Foru
Follow us on Telegram @Forum18NewsService
(https://t.me/s/forum18newsser
All Forum 18 material may be referred to, quoted from, or republished in
full, if Forum 18 is credited as the source.
All photographs that are not Forum 18's copyright are attributed to the
copyright owner. If you reuse any photographs from Forum 18's website, you
must seek permission for any reuse from the copyright owner or abide by the
copyright terms the copyright owner has chosen.
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855.