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Andrew Okhotin, a Baptist youth pastor, took the 10-hour flight from New York to Moscow in late March on a quick and joyful mission. He was going to deliver a $48,000 cash gift from American believers to Russian Baptists, visit for a few days with relatives and then return to the United States and his studies at Harvard Divinity School.
Nearly three months later, the 28-year-old Okhotin is still in Moscow, has yet to hand over the money, and, if Moscow prosecutors get their way, could spend the next five years in a Russian prison.
Russian customs inspectors claim Okhotin is a currency smuggler, who on March 29 deliberately chose the green, "nothing-to-declare" corridor at Moscow's main international airport, all the while carrying $48,000 in $100 and $50 bills in his beige backpack.
In fact, Okhotin says, he made an innocent mistake by stepping into the wrong corridor and, when asked, immediately reached into his jacket pocket and handed over a duly completed customs form he had filled out on the plane.
Learning just how much money Okhotin had, customs inspectors detained him for 12 hours as they interrogated him, offering twice to release him for bribes of $5,000 and $10,000, he says.
As the marathon session wore on without agreement, customs officer Irina Kondratskaya jotted down on a piece of paper her own home telephone number and the cell phone of a Moscow lawyer, saying, "Contact him, he'll tell you what to do," Okhotin recalls, later showing the slip of paper to a reporter.
The lawyer, Okhotin says, offered to get the charges dropped for $15,000.
"I've never heard a thing about this Okhotin you're talking about," the lawyer, Igor Tokarev, said initially in a Thursday (June 19) conversation, recalling a few minutes later that a Russian journalist had interviewed him the day before about the bribery allegations.
Reached at home Friday evening, Kondratskaya hotly denied any wrongdoing, "If Mr. Okhotin is accusing me of bribery, let him talk to my supervisors. I'm not commenting."
Whatever the facts, Okhotin's case has taken on a life of its own by slowly, organically provoking the prayerful indignation of evangelical Christians worldwide. Without any apparent unified effort or formal organization by Okhotin's supporters, the quiet Baptist with an earnest demeanor and a slight stoop has become a cause celebre. Supporters are following his journey through the Russian legal system, his 27-day hunger strike and the prayer appeals on the K-Love Christian radio network, through e-mail and on Christian-oriented Web sites from Denmark to the United States to Russia.
"I think you have no idea how many people are praying. There is so much interest in this case. I think you could comfortably say hundreds of thousands of people," says Sue Clark, whose husband teaches at Wheaton College in Illinois, where 400 students signed a petition for Okhotin's release.
Aside from the perceived venality of Russian officials, the issue also seems to resonate deeply and poignantly in evangelical Christian circles worldwide because Okhotin's predicament brings back memories of Soviet-era religious repression, especially of Christians who were not members of state-approved denominations.
Indeed, Okhotin's father was a Soviet-era pastor in an underground Baptist church who was arrested for his religious work, convicted of anti-Soviet agitation and sent for 21/2 years to a prison near the Sea of Azov where he says his health was permanently damaged. The family -- Andrew Okhotin, his parents and his eight siblings -- emigrated to the United States in 1989.
From his home in San Diego, where he runs Russian Evangelist Missions, Okhotin's father, Vladimir, said he sees an eerie parallel with his own experience.
"They seized him like a Christian. Just as they went after me, they are going after him," said Vladimir Okhotin, 61, who refers to his son by his given name, Andrei. "Our goal is only that God gives Andrei the power to stand his ground and that the money gets to the people who need it. That is not just any money but money that came from poor people in some cases."
Nearly 20 years ago, Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-Pa., was one of the hundreds of Americans involved in a letter-writing campaign to win the elder Okhotin's release from Soviet prison. Back then, Pitts was a state legislator in Pennsylvania, but now he sits on the House of Representatives' international relations committee. He enlisted the help of five other congressmen in sending an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Congressman Pitts likes to say that he is a toothache that just won't go away regarding this issue," said Pitts' spokesman, Derek Karchner, from Washington, adding that, so far, there is little progress. "We have had varying degrees of evasion and obstinence from Russian officials. (Pitts) had a rather brief and pointed conversation with the Russian ambassador two weeks ago. Nothing was really accomplished and there didn't appear to be any flexibility."
Ultimately, Karchner said, the strongest political weapon Pitts has is to introduce Okhotin's case during the upcoming discussion in the House on the repeal of the last significant Cold War-era trade restrictions on Russia.
"That's especially true since six of the biggest players on the (trade) issue in the House are involved in Andrew's case," Karchner said.
Elsewhere, Okhotin's supporters have held two prayer vigils involving a couple dozen people outside the Russian Embassy, according to the elder Okhotin. And students at Harvard Divinity School have fasted and taken part in a 12-hour prayer service for Okhotin in Cambridge, Mass., reported Chanta Bhan, a classmate of Okhotin, by e-mail.
The Russian government has not officially responded to the lobbying and petitions aside from a somewhat peculiar June 10 news release from the Foreign Ministry announcing tersely that Okhotin had been detained at the airport for not declaring $48,000 on March 29.
But, according to Okhotin's Moscow lawyer, some of the Russian officials receiving faxed and mailed petitions each bearing "40 or 100 signatures" are increasingly irritated at the sheer volume of missives from America.
"We're talking about more than a thousand and that is just the faxes," said the lawyer, Anatoly Pchelintsev. "I don't think this sort of thing happens very often. I think it is a problem for them mostly on a practical level. I know in the police office, they just didn't have enough fax paper." (posted 24 June 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
(Presenter) For the first time in the history of our country, a framework agreement on cooperation has been signed between the Republic of Belarus and the Belarusian Orthodox Church. It is an acknowledgement of the significant role the Orthodox Church plays in the spiritual rebirth of the Belarusian society. The agreement sets forth the principles and objectives of cooperation between the church and the state.
(Filaret, head of the Belarusian Orthodox Church) We have been given a blank cheque to develop cooperation programmes with all branches of power. These programmes will lead to more specific agreements. We have received an overall blessing.
(Stanislaw Burko, head of the Council of Ministers' commission for religious and ethnic affairs) The framework agreement will provide a basis for specific programmes. State agencies authorized by the government will draft cooperation programmes with the Belarusian Orthodox Church.
(The Belarusian government has come under repeated criticism for a discriminatory
policy against other faiths.)
Source: Belarusian television, Minsk, in Belarusian (Copyright 2003
BBC Monitoring/BBC , posted 24 June 2003)
AGREEMENT ON COOPERATION BETWEEN REPUBLIC OF BELARUS AND BELORUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
The republic of Belarus as the state (hereafter, "state") and the Belorussian Orthodox church (hereafter, "church"), subsequently named the "sides," guided by the constitution and the legislation of the republic of Belarus, considering that the development and strengthening of cooperation of the state and church corresponds to the interests of the Belorussian people, respecting the right of citizens to freedom of conscience and religious confessions, taking into account the importance of close mutual communication of the sides in resolving the tasks of the spiritual and moral improvement of society, and proceeding from the necessity of the development of a contractual legal base between the state and the church, have concluded the present agreement that defines the agreed position of the sides as to the basic directions of cooperation and measures for achieving these directions, agreeing on the following:
Article 1
The state recognizes that the church is one of the most important social institutions, whose historical experience, spiritual potential, and centuries-old cultural heritage have exerted in the past and manifest in the present substantial influence of the formation of the spiritual, cultural, and national traditions of the Belorussian people; the spiritual and cultural values preserved by the church represent a substantial part of the historical achievement of Belarus and of national self-consciousness; and common action with the church serves as an important factor in social stability, civic unity, and interconfessional peace in the Belorussia land.
The church is guaranteed freedom in its internal organization, performance of worship rituals and other forms of activity, as well as the right of church jurisdiction on its own canonical territory within the framework of the constitution and legislation of the republic of Belarus.
Article 2
The church recognizes that the state is the guarantor of the maintenance of the spiritual and cultural traditions of the Belorussian people, including those that have been formed under the influence of the church; relations with the state are based on the principle of respect for it as a social institution, called to preserve public order, to protect the national interests and morality, and to preserve the spiritual and cultural values of the nation; and cooperation with the state facilitates the energizing of the spiritual and social activity of the church and expansion of the possibilities for joint combating of pseudoreligious structures that pose a danger for the individual and society.
Article 3
The state and the church recognize that the forms of their cooperation that take priority include public morality, education and training, cultural and creative activity, preservation, revitalization, and development of the historical and cultural heritage, protection of health, social security, mercy, charity, support of the institutions of the family, maternity, and childhood, care for persons located in places of confinement, educational, social, and psychological work with military personnel, and preservation of the environment.
The sides think it expedient beginning from 2003 for corresponding republican
agencies of state administration, other state agencies, and the church
to undertake joint programs regarding the above indicated forms for the
purpose of agreed upon and effective cooperation in the following spheres
of public activity:
education and training: the Ministry of Education;
science: the National Academy of Science of Belarus and the Ministry
of Education;
cultural and creative activity, preservation, revitalization, and development
of the historical and cultural heritage: Ministry of Culture, provincial
executive committees, and the Minsk city executive committee;
protection of health: Ministry for the Protection of Health;
social security, charity, cooperation in strengthening the institution
of the family, maternity, and childhood: Ministry of Labor and Social Security,
provincial executive committees, Minsk city executive committee;
mass news media: Ministry of Information;
prevention of lawbreaking, care for persons located in places of confinement
and persons undergoing punishment: Ministry of Internal Affairs;
educational, social, and psychological work with military personnel
and employees of military structures: Ministry of Defense, State Committee
for Border Troops, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry for Emergencies;
protection of the environment: Ministry of Natural Resources and Protection
of the Environment, Committee for Problems of the Consequences of the Catastrophe
at Chernobyl Atomic Energy Plant under the Council of Ministers of the
republic of Belarus.
As necessity requires, programs may be undertaken also for other forms of cooperation determined by the sides within their authorized agencies.
Coordination of activity in planning and conducting measures in accordance with the above indicated programs is entrusted to the Committee for Affairs of Religion and Nationality under the Council of Ministers of the republic of Belarus.
Article 4
The sides recognize that the present agreement has been concluded in the name of public welfare and does not have the goal of infringing the rights of any confessions or citizens.
Article 5
The sides will announce on a regular basis their experience of work in the spheres of their cooperation, exchanging specific information that directly or indirectly affects the interest of the other side, and will conduct mutual consultations and other joint events.
Article 6
Changes and additions to this agreement may be made on the basis of bilateral agreement of the sides.
Article 7
This agreement takes effect from the moment of its signing and has no expiration date, unless determined differently by the sides.
Signed
in the name of the republic of Belarus, Prime Minister of the republic
of Belarus, G. Novitsky.
in the name of the Belorussian Orthodox church, Metropolitan Filaret
of Minsk and Slutsk, patriarchal exarch of all-Belarus.
Minsk, 12 June 2003
(tr. by PDS, posted 24 June 2003)
Original on official site of Belorussian Orthodox church
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Within the framework of a study "Middle class life style" in April of this year, a survey of middle class Russians was conducted with regard to their attitude toward religion. The following was revealed. Those declaring themselves atheists were 22% of those questioned, with twice as many men as women saying that (30% and 15% respectively). As usual, St. Petersburg stood out, with 33% nonbelievers, while in the largest cities of the south of Russia and along the Volga, there were only 16-18%.
With regard to religious preferences, 45% of those questioned identify themselves as Orthodox. Among adherents of RPTs, women predominate (50%), as do elderly (48%) and Muscovites (53%), while in the Urals there are 36%, with 5% of respondents considering themselves Muslims. There are Buddhists, protestants, and others, but their number does not exceed a half percentage point.
And here is the most curious discovery: exactly a fourth of respondents think themselves to be believers but they do not belong to any of the confessions. And another conclusion does not contradict this tendency: even believers who identify themselves with a confession do not attend church often, apparently thinking that it is more important to have God in one's spirit.
If one compares these data with the results of a similar study on an all-Russian sample, then it emerges that middle class Russians are more devout than Russians as a whole; among them atheists constitute 32%. That all Russians are traditional in their conduct is confirmed by the fact that they more clearly prefer Orthodoxy (56%) to other religions. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 June 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
In a new persecution of Pentecostal house meetings in various cities and villages of western Belarus, a series of fines of members of churches who make their homes available for prayer services has been conducted. "For now this is happening only in this place of Belarus. But the situation could become more intensified," says the head of the Pentecostal union of Belarus, Bishop Sergei Khomich.
Those fined include two women, one of whom is invalid and the second, retired. Police have conducted raids on religious meetings since a new religion law went into effect in November of last year. In addition, on 12 June the government signed an agreement with the Orthodox church that many other religious communities fear could further restrict their rights. The latest fines were levied on 4 June by the administrative commission of Grodno region. In accordance with article 193 of the Administrative Code on Lawbreaking, which penalizes unregistered religious activity, Alexander Tolochko was fined 70,000 Belorussian rubles (34 USA dollars). "He has not paid the fine yet; he does not earn enough to be able to pay it," Bishop Fedor Tsvor of Grodno said.
He said that Tolochko filed an appeal against the fine which was imposed on him after a raid conducted by police at 1:00 a.m. at his house in the village of Zheloduk, which was leased by the Pentecostal church. This let to the composition of a protocol against Tolochko on an accusation of conducting "illegal" services. "It is very disturbing that the police arrived in the middle of the night. They have done this illegally. Services in that village have not even begun," Bishop Khomich said. He said that the authorities do not want for there to be a Pentecostal church there. A representative of the regional administration, Sergei Kasperchuk, denied the suggestion that the Pentecostals are being subjected to persecution. "There is no campaign against them--not at all." But still he insisted that they could meet only after registration. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 June 2003)
See "New Spate of Pentecostal fines" at Forum 18
Russia Religion News Current News Items
The governmental Commission on Matters of Religious Associations decided at a session held at the end of last week to exempt religious organizations from payment of tax on parcels of land on which houses of worship are located. However, now for the church the question becomes much more acute whether it will be able at all to keep the land on which its churches and monasteries are located. The issue is that the mechanism of land relations that is prescribed in the Land Code of RF threatens religious organizations with real economic disaster. Hitherto parishes and monasteries of RPTs used the parcels of land without charge. But with the adoption of the Land Code the right to parcels of land, created on the basis of continuous use up to 30 October 2001, is subject to obligatory transformation by 1 January 2004 either to ownership or to lease.
In April the State Duma refused to support the draft law submitted by Deputy Sergei Glaziev which proposed supplementing the Land Code with a provision according to which "parcels of land occupied by an object of religious significance are subject to privatization by religious organizations without cost." However in the same month the Federation Council prepared an alternative draft law changing the code. In the words of the speaker of the upper chamber, Sergei Mironov, these amendments had been agreed to with the government. It was decided, in particular, not to provide the right of the use of land by a religious organization for an unlimited period of time, since this would violate the conception of the Land Code, which provides for the transfer of land for unlimited use only to state organizations. In order to get around this point in the Land Code it was decided to prescribe in it the possibility of the transfer of land to religious organizations for the period of their existence. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 June 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
At the center of the Arkhangelsk provincial Institute for Retraining and Improving Qualifications of Education Workers, courses on the "Teaching of 'Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture' in state and municipal educational institutions" were begun on 19 June, according to "Regnum.ru," citing the press service of the Arkhangelsk diocese.
The courses were organized by the Department of Education of the administration of the Arkhangelsk province and the Department of Education and Catechesis of the Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory diocese. In an official letter the director of the Department of Education stated the necessity of organizing such course for the purpose of improving the system of spiritual and moral education and achieving the academic methodological conditions for the development of the teaching of special courses and optional Orthodox culture studies.
The curriculum consists of seventy-two hours, which include lectures and excursions. Thirty-five school personnel of the province (teachers of specific subjects, elementary teachers, librarians, teachers of religious studies courses) are hearing lectures on the legal aspects of teaching the "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" subject, introduction to Orthodox pedagogy, and the fundamentals of Orthodoxy. In the lectures the audience will learn about the role of Orthodoxy in the history of Russia, saints of the Russian north, Orthodoxy in Russian literature, fundamentals of the Orthodox worldview, sacred scriptures, the artistic culture of Orthodoxy, basics of religious security, and Orthodox aspects of medicine. The schedule for the courses includes a visit to the spiritual center of the Arkhangelsk diocese, the Saint Antony of Siisk Holy Trinity monastery. Bishop Tikhon of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogory will visit the class on 24 June. He will talk with the teachers and describe the role of the Russian Orthodox church in society and answer questions. The work of the courses will conclude on 28 June with a final examination of the participants. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 June 2003)
MAJORITY OF SAMARA HIGH SCHOOLERS CONSIDER THEMSELVES BELIEVERS AND
FAVOR STUDY OF RELIGION IN SCHOOL
Portal-credo.ru,
23 June 2003
Among high school students surveyed in Samara, 75.3% consider themselves believers and 40% view positively the introduction into the school curriculum of a course on the fundamentals of world religions and 40.4% favor the topic of "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture," Blagovest-info reports. These were the results of a pilot study of a sociological investigation into the "Attitude of school children toward religion" that was conducted by the Samara Institute for Improving Qualifications of Education Workers. The results of the experiment were made public by the prorector for academic work of the institute, E.P. Belchikova, at the third provincial Cyril and Methodius school readings held at the end of May.
The sociological study will be conducted within the framework of a program of long-term cooperation between the Department of Education and Science of the administration of Samara province and the Samara diocesan administration of the Russian Orthodox church. Researchers have adopted the task of determining the level of religiosity and the significance of faith for the personality of the high school student and determining the attitude of students to the study of religion within the framework of the school curriculum. The pilot study was conducted in nine Samara schools and the survey was filled out by 456 students of the tenth and eleventh grades.
According to E.P. Belchikova, the results achieved give evidence of the desire of high schoolers to be believers and of their lack of understanding of the church. The students' lack of religious culture and the low level of Orthodox training provide fertile ground for nontraditional beliefs. She suggests that with a competent approach to the introduction of the "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" course it will be possible to speak of the increase of the number of real high school believers.
Of the surveyed high schoolers, 14.7% were non believers, while 84.9% identify themselves with the traditional religions of Russia (Orthodoxy, 80%; Islam, 3.1%; Judaism, 0.7%, Buddhism, 0.7%) and 0.4% identify with Catholicism. According to the researchers, the inconsistency of the number of believers (75.3%) and adherents of specific confessions (84.9%) gives evidence that those surveyed view religion as a means of cultural or national identification.
Among the high schoolers, 52.3% think that religion is necessary for the modern person, while 84% agreed that religious values should be preserved. Among life's priorities they name friendship, love, and family and then material welfare and a professional career, and 65.1% think that spiritual values are more important than money.
Of those questioned 79.5% acknowledge the essential influence of the Orthodox church on the "maintenance of spirituality" in Russia. The role of the Orthodox church in the history of Russia is considered to be "great" by 25% (of them 54.5% were believers); as "substantial" by 33% (of them 79.2% were believers); as "ambivalent," 36.2% (58.7% believers). Fifty-four percent of the respondents think that the activity of various religions, with the exception of the sects, should be granted legal equality.
The attitude of the high school students to the study of religion within the framework of the school curriculum is ambivalent: 40% would want to study the fundamentals of world religions, while 45% would not; 40.4% of those surveyed (93.4% of believers) view the introduction of "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" positively, while nonbelievers view the introduction of this course negatively. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 June 2003)
ADMINISTRATION OF KRASNODAR TERRITORY AND RPTs WILL INTRODUCE CHILDREN
TO VALUES OF ORTHODOXY TOGETHER
Religiia
v svetskom obshchestve, 21 June 2003
The Ekaterinodar and Kuban diocese and the Department of Education of Krasnodar territory held the first session of the Coordinating Council at which the draft of the creation of a legal regulatory basis for the school course in "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" was discussed. Session participants stressed that this course will not be introduced into the schools as an obligatory one but "children will be given the opportunity to attend classes and participate in events conducted jointly by the school and the church, and their parents will be given the opportunity to decide whether their children need Orthodox training."
On 10 June a regular session of the territorial Coordinating Council for Relations between the Department of Education and Science of Krasnodar Territory and the Department of Religious Education and Catechesis of the Ekaterinodar and Kuban Diocese was held. Participants in the session included priests, employees of the administration of the territory, and the chairman of the the territorial division of the "Znanie" society. During the session questions of training teachers of "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" and results of the survey of the desire for the study of an elective course on "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" among pupils of grades 1 through 9 and their parents were discussed. The coordinating council decided to include the course "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" among the optional subjects in the school curriculum at a rate of 34 hours per year (one hour per week).
On 19 June a three-year "Agreement on Cooperation in the sphere of educational, social, and cultural enlightenment activity and in the sphere of the rights of citizens of RF to improving the study of the Russian language, Russian literature, Russian history, Russian culture, and Orthodoxy" was signed between the Department of Education and Science of the territory (A.A. Simankova) and the diocese (Metropolitan Isidor).
To achieve the cooperation the agreement provides for the creation of a permanently functioning Coordinating Council on Cooperation of the Department of Education and Science, the Department for Interethnic Relations and Cooperation with Public Associations of the Department on Organizational and Personnel Work and Cooperation with Organs of Local Administration and Domestic Policy of the administration of the Krasnodar territory, and the Krasnodar diocesan administration of the Moscow patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox church, and the territorial Expert Council that conducts expert analysis of religious-enlightenment programs, projects, and academic literature.
The agreement provides in particular: giving various forms of support to educational institutions for cooperation in securing the right of each person to religious (Orthodox) education in educational institutions of Krasnodar territory, regardless of their forms of property; joint activity "provided by existing legislation . . . for preventing illegal activity, including that of nontraditional religious organizations;" and production of joint television and radio broadcasts of educational programs, etc. (tr. by PDS, posted 23 June 2003)
Russia Religion News Current News Items
Esteemed Sergei Nikolaievich
The prosecutor's office of the city conducted an investigation on the basis of your request and the appeal of L.A. Ponomarev in connection with the refusal to open a criminal case regarding the publication and distribution of the "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" by A.V. Borodina.
It was established that on 4 September 2002 the Ostankino district prosecutor decided on the basis of results of an investigation conducted on the basis of a statement by L.A. Ponomarev in connection with the publication and distribution of Borodina's book "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" to refuse to open a criminal case on the basis of point 2, part 1 of article 24 of the Criminal Procedural Code of RF (lack of the substance of a crime).
On 30 December 2002, the Meshchansk District Regional Court of Moscow, which reviewed in judicial session the complaint by L.A. Ponomarev, overturned the decision of the Ostankino District prosecutor of 4 September 2002 and the material was returned in order to conduct a supplementary inquiry. The basis for overturning that decision was the incompleteness of the investigation as well as an error in the composition of the decision, in that the citation was to point 2 instead of point 1 of part 1 of article 24 of the code (lack of substance of a crime).
During the supplementary inquiry the Ostankino District prosecutor removed the defects that the court identified. On 15 January 2003, on the basis of all materials received, the prosecutor's office decided to refuse to open a criminal case on the basis of point 1, part 1 of article 24 of the Criminal Procedural Code of RF (lack of substance of a crime).
One of the reasons for making this procedural decision was the conclusion of the scientific consultation outside of the trial that was conducted by a worker of the Scientific Research Institute on Problems of Strengthening Legality and Legal Procedure of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, V.A.Burkovskaia. According to her conclusion, the purpose of the publication and distribution of the book "Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture" was to acquaint readers with the role of Orthodoxy in Russian history. This purpose was achieved by the author by means of providing information about Christianity and Orthodoxy, about the contents of sacred scripture, about church architecture, about church art, iconography, and monumental painting in Orthodox churches, and about Orthodox saints. The book does not contain negative emotional assessments or disparaging characterizations of representatives of any confession. It is emphasized that religious traditions need to be studied with respect for one's own and for others' nations.
Despite its disapproval of atheistic ideology, the wording employed by the author does not make any insulting characterizations with regard to representatives of atheism. The text of the book does not contain any particular linguistic devices that would form negative images or arouse actions against any nation, race, or religion, or individuals representing them.
In this conclusion the Scientific Research Institute examined and expressed all of the judicially significant circumstances involved in the adoption of the procedural decision. There are no doubts about the qualifications of V.A. Burkovskaia, who holds a kandidat's degree in juridical sciences and a diploma for advanced training with the major of "Juridical Psychology," having completed graduate study with a specialty in "Social-psychological distinctives of religious groups and materials published by them."
The city prosecutor and the prosecutor general of RF found the decision of the Ostankino district prosecutor of 15 January 2003 regarding refusal to open a criminal case on the basis of Ponomarev's appeal to be legal and with adequate basis.
It is explained that in order for a procedural decision to refuse to open a criminal case according to the procedure of article 24 of the procedural code there must be only one of the reasons specified in the first part of this article.
On 24 March 2003 the Meshchansky District Regional Court or the Central Adminstrative District of the city of Moscow reviewed in judicial session L.A. Ponomarev's complaint against the decision of the Ostankino district prosecutor of 15 January 2003 refusing to open a criminal case and it refused to satisfy it. In its decision the court pointed out that during the investigation, not one of the evidences of disposition of article 282 of the Criminal Code of RF found objective substantiation and the decision of the Ostankino district prosecutor was based on the standards of the law.
The "expert conclusion" of the head of the Center for the Study of Religions of the Russian State Humanities University, N.V. Shaburov, to which the plaintiff Ponomarev appealed, was obtained in a nonprocedural manner and thus cannot be the basis for setting aside the decision refusing to open the criminal case.
According to article 1 of the federal law "On the prosecutor's office of the Russian federation" the prosecutor's office of the Russian federation conducts inspection of the fulfilment of the laws by federal ministries, state committees, services, and other federal agencies of the executive branch, by representatives (legislators) and executives of agencies of the component elements of the Russian federation, by offices of local administration, by agencies of military administration, by agencies of supervision and their responsible persons, and by agencies of administration and directors of commercial and noncommercial organizations, as well as of the legality of the legal documents they publish. Ascertainment of the correspondence of the activity of the Coordinating Council for Relations between the Russian Ministry of Education and the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church with constitutional principles is not within the competence of the offices of the prosecutor since the coordinating council does not have anything to do with these offices.
In light of all of this, there exists no basis for taking any measures of prosecutorial response.
Assistant prosecutor of the city of Moscow,
V.P. Yudin
(tr. by PDS, posted 23 June 2003)
Related article: "Case against Orthodox textbook continued"
Russia Religion News Current News Items
This week Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazabaev met with Metropolitan Mefody Nemtsov of Astana and Alma-Ata, who was "exiled" to Kazakhstan as the result of the covert struggle within the Moscow patriarchate, with the recently elected chief rabbi of Israel, Yonah Metzger, for whom the trip to Kazakhstan was his first official foreign visit, and with the chairman of the World Jewish Congress, Israel Singer. The main topic of the conversations was the preparation for conducting in Astana in September of this year a grandiose interreligious forum under the title "Dialogue of Civilizations." It is proposed that prominent figures of the leading world religions will participate in the forum.
After the meeting with Nazarbaev Metropolitan Mefody stated that the Russian Orthodox church must be one of the participants. Commenting on the results of the conversations, Mefody reported that he also discussed with Nazarbaev questions of the relations between the church and the state in the country. "The president of Kazakhstan again affirmed his views on church-state relations, noting that the traditional religions, Islam and Orthodoxy, are those historic religions on which the religious and church-state life should be based and developed," the metropolitan reported.
Also intending to participate in the upcoming forum are representatives of the World Jewish Congress and the Eurasian Jewish Congress (EAEK). "We will try to secure the participation of Jews in the conference on an equality with Muslims and Christians," the head of the World Jewish Congress promised after meeting with the Kazakh president.
The initiative of Astana was completely supported also by the chief rabbi of Israel, Yonah Metzger. "I selected Kazakhstan as the first country to visit after the day of my election and I express my respect to the President Nazarbaev for heading the world interconfessional dialog," he declared in an interview with Interfax on the eve of his arrival in Kazakhstan.
The idea for conducting the interreligious forum also was approved by Roman Pope John Paul II. In May the state secretary of the Vatican, Angelo Sodano, visited Astana and discussed with Nazarbaev specific details of planning for this event.
The forum is being prepared on a massive scale and in the event of its successful conduct Astana really could lay claim to the unofficial status of the center of the world's religions. The more so, since President Nazarbaev has experience in conducting such representatives meetings. Thus, in February of this year there was an international conference on "Peace and Solidarity," in Alma-Ata in which public and political figures and the heads of religious communities from more than twenty countries participated. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 June 2003)
ISRAELI CHIEF RABBI PRAISES KAZAKH PLAN FOR INTERFAITH CONGRESS
Agence France Presse, 16 June 2003
Israel's recently appointed Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger on Monday praised a plan by Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev to hold an interfaith congress in this predominantly Muslim Central Asian country in September.
This former Soviet republic's record of inter-ethnic harmony makes it "the ideal place to hold a congress of the heads and representatives of the world's major religions," Metzger, who heads Israel's Ashkanazi Jewish community, told reporters. The plan to host an interfaith congress in Kazakhstan's recently established capital Astana has already won praise from the pope's envoy, Vatican state secretary Angelo Sodano, who visited here last month.
Metzger praised the Kazakh president's commitment to combatting terrorism, adding that he had thanked Nazarbayev "as the head of a Muslim state for supporting and strengthening relations with the Jewish state of Israel."
The authoritarian Nazarbayev has been at pains to ensure that his new capital on the northern steppe caters to major religions by encouraging different faiths to build places of worship here.
The majority of this vast country's 15 million population are Muslims but Islamic radicalism, seen elsewhere in the region, has not taken a strong hold here.
The country's dwindling Jewish population of some 15,000 mainly settled here to escape persecution by the Nazis during World War II or were forcibly resettled here under Soviet leader Josef Stalin.
Only in 1996 was the first synagogue built in the southwestern city of Almaty, which is home to Kazakhstan's largest Jewish community.
Anti-Semitism is generally considered to have been less severe than in much of the former Soviet Union. (Copyright 2003 Agence France Presse, posted 23 June 2003)
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