RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Jehovah's Witness fined for literature distribution

85-YEAR OLD JEHOVAH'S WITNESS ACCUSED OF "EXTREMISM"
Portal-credo.ru, 30 July 2010

Aleksei Nikitovich Fedorin--an 85-year-old invalid, 2nd class, father of three daughters and having three grandchildren and two great-grandchildrenÑwas accused of violation of the law entailing "heightened public danger." The court assigned to Aleksei Fedorin a punishment in the form of administrative fine of 1,000 rubles, the press service of the Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia reports.

Aleksei Fedorin himself has professed the Jehovah's Witnesses' religion for a half-century now and he thinks that the case against him was fabricated.

After the decision of the court took effect regarding the Taganrog congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses, Police Inspector Sergei Chernigovsky collected in the village of Srednii Egorlyk (Rostov province) individual publications of the Jehovah's Witnesses that A.N. Fedorin had distributed to his neighbors over the course of the preceding years and he delivered to the prosecutor's office a report in which he declared that A.N. Fedorin had distributed them in June 2010, which was after they had been included in the list of "extremist materials," which meant that he should be found guilty of the mass distribution of "extremist" literature.

Regional Prosecutor Aleksander Lysenin summoned A.N. Fedorin on 26 July and questioned the elderly man at the police department from 7.30 to 16.00, without lunch, despite the fact that the man suffers from dizziness and fainting. Only later did Fedorin learn from the prosecutor's statement that he is charged with distribution of literature on 15, 16, 18, and 20 June 2010. Fedorin said that during this time he was sick and did not engage in religious activity.

Judge Viktoria Samokhina, ignoring the state of the health of the defendant and in violation of article 24.2 of the Code of Administrative Law Violations of RF regarding the public nature of judicial investigations, did not permit his associates to attend the session. The court secretary declared:  "There is no circus here for you!" A. Fedorin clearly stated during the session that he did not distribute literature in 2010. But the judge did not mention this statement in her court decree and on 28 July found his actions as "massive distribution of extremist materials" that entailed "heightened public danger."

At the present time A.N. Fedorin is trying to appeal against the actions of officials and the ruling of the court.

Aleksei Nikitovich Fedorin became a Jehovah's Witness in 1960. In 1929 he escaped death during the dekulakization of his parents. Later he became the leader of a combine and was awarded the Order of Red Labor Banner and medals "For excellent labor," "For labor distinction," "For development of Virgin Lands," etc. He has a certificate as a veteran of the armed forces.

When in the 1960s the KGB learned that Aleksei Nikitovich had professed the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses, they sought his dismissal from work. In 1971 he was forced to relocate from Omsk to Uzbekistan, although the KGB summoned him even there. The authorities considered his religious convictions "anti-soviet," and he was sentenced to five years in prison. The Hitlerian regime in Germany and the communist regime in USSR were the most active persecutors of Jehovah's Witnesses. Now this list has been extended by the current regime in Russia, the press service notes. (tr. by PDS, posted 1 August 2010)

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Harassment of Jehovah's Witnesses

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES DETAINED AND QUESTIONED IN KIROV PROVINCE
Portal-credo.ru, 27 July 2010

On 9 July representatives of the power structures visited a worship service in the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in the city of Kirovo-Chepetsk of Kirov province, the SOVA information and analysis center reports, citing the press service of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

The inspectors viewed the premises, and after the meeting they detained all in attendance at the service and required them to produce identification documents. The believers' addresses and telephone numbers were recorded.

From 12 July to the present, around twenty believers have been summoned to give testimony to the investigator. The investigator asked, inter alia, about instances of distribution of religious literature. (tr. by PDS, posted 2 August 2010)

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Pentecostal drug rehabilitation services targeted by narco-trade

DRUG DEALERS BEAT UP EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS IN MOSCOW MARKET
Interfax-Religiia, 13 July 2010

Three clergymen of the "Exodus" evangelical church were beaten up by representatives of the drug trade in one of Moscow's markets, a correspondent of "Interfax-Religiia" was told on Tuesday at the headquarters of the Russian Associated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals).

The young ministers from "Exodus" were distributing cards in the market that had the addresses of rehabilitation centers for drug addicts. A woman selling poppy seeds began to chase the believers away. After she made a telephone call, a couple of men arrived at the market who identified themselves as agents of State Drug Control and announced that it was not allowed to distribute the cards in that place.

"Bouncers approached the believers and began threatening them with physical violence and beating them. The Christians did not put up any resistance but just protected themselves. As a result, one of the ministers suffered a jaw injury and lost several teeth. The others suffered minor injuries and bruises. The beatings were treated at a trauma clinic," the Pentecostal headquarters reported.

The head of the Southern Diocesan Administration of the Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith, Eduard Deremov, noted that recently instances of attacks by representatives of the drug trade upon clergymen have increased. In his opinion, "somebody does not like" the attempts of "Exodus" to combat drugs.

"It is a shocking fact that today drug dealers beat up religious ministers in broad daylight in a crowded area in the center of Moscow. This is not just a criminal offense but absolute immorality even by the standards of the criminal community. Our ministers, young men, suffered while conducting their divine mission of bringing salvation to drug-dependent people," E. Deremov declared.

The "Exodus" evangelical church has been providing help to drug addicts for more than ten years. In that time more than 3,000 drug addicts have undergone successful rehabilitation in centers operating in religious societies in 14 regions of Russia.  (tr. by PDS, posted 13 July 2010)

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Jehovah's Witnesses' activity unhindered in central Russia

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES HOLD THREE-DAY DISTRICT CONGRESS IN VORONEZH
Portal-credo.ru, 12 July 2010

A summer district congress of Jehovah's Witnesses was held 9-11 July in Voronezh in the "Rudgormash" factory stadium, located in the southern region of the city, far from residential areas, a Portal-credo.ru correspondent reports.

The participants of the congress included 3371 registered adherents of this religious organization from Voronezh and Voronezh province. On the second day of the meeting, 41 persons received water baptism in accordance with the Jehovah's Witnesses' rituals. Voluntary work in organizing the congress and ministering to its participants was performed by 380 representatives of local JW organizations.

The theme of this year's summer congresses, established by the leadership council of Jehovah's Witnesses, is "Cherish friendship with Jehovah!" which intends to activate believers' recollections of the relations that biblical prophets and other personalities of Christian sacred scriptures had with God.

The concluding sermon, "Cherish friendship with Jehovah like Jeremiah," was delivered by a representative of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia, Vladislav Apaniuk. In his address he dwelt on the recent decision of the European Court for Human Rights on the appeal of the Moscow Jehovah's Witnesses against the decision of the Golovin court liquidating the organization, and he pointed to its significance not only for the organization but as testimony to the way Jehovah leads his faithful ones.

After the "Taganrog trial" finding the literature of a substantial number of JW sources to be extremist and liquidating the local religious organization in Taganrog, Voronezh province has remained a district where law enforcement agencies have not issued any charges or warnings to Jehovah's Witnesses. At the end of the 1990s the Voronezh provincial administration of justice made an attempt to liquidate by judicial means one of the local JW organizations, issuing a multitude of charges against the leadership of the organization, including distribution of literature "lacking identification of confessional affiliation." In particular, the materials of the case included a certain "Miracle booklet" that was found in mailboxes of citizens, which did not contain publication data, but which obviously showed its affiliation with Jehovah's Witnesses. As a result of detailed review, the Lenin court of Voronezh rejected the appeal of the monitoring agency.  (tr. by PDS, posted 12 July 2010)

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Jehovah's Witness mother rejects blood transfusion

VOLOGDA COURT TAKES AWAY PARENTAL RIGHTS OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESS
Portal-credo.ru, 12 July 2010

The prosecutor of Vologda province filed suit in a Vytegorsk district court (located 300 kilometers from Vologda) and in an extraordinary judicial session obtained restrictions on the parental rights of a Jehovah's Witness who had requested the use for treating her twelve-year-old daughter of alternative medicines, recognized by medical science, instead of donor's red cell and fresh-frozen plasma. The day before, the girl, who had come to a provincial children's hospital in Vologda, was operated on successfully.

As the press service of the Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia reports, the case was presented as if Jehovah's Witnesses reject all treatment altogether.

Meanwhile, the European Court for Human Rights, in its ruling of 10 June 2010, said:  "If one understands the decisions of national courts as positing an equality between refusal of blood transfusion and suicide, then in the opinion of the European court this comparison is not applicable, since the situation in which a patient tries to hasten the onset of death by means of  terminating treatment is different from those in which patients, like Jehovah's Witnesses for example, simply choose a method of treatment, but still want to get well and do not refuse treatment as a whole" (point 132).

The decision of the court and the actions of the Vytegorsk district prosecutor are now being appealed. (tr. by PDS, posted 13 July 2010)

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Siberian Pentecostals face soviet-like restriction

SUPREME COURT OF KHAKASIA LEAVES IN FORCE ORDER TO DEMOLISH PENTECOSTAL PASTOR'S HOUSE
Slavic Legal Center, 8 July 2010

On 8 July 2010, the Supreme Court of the republic of Khakasia left in force the decision of a Saianogorsk court concerning demolition of the residence of the pastor of the "Glorification" Pentecostal church of Christians of Evangelical Faith, the press service of the Slavic Legal Center reports. Since the decision of the Saianogorsk city court has now taken effect, the defendant is obliged to remove the structure within two months; otherwise at the expiration of this period the structure will be demolished by force at the expense of the defendant.

We recall that on 11 March 2010 the Sainogorsk city court made a decision regarding the demolition of the building where the church was gathering for services (the congregation has about 300 persons) as an unauthorized structure. The law does not forbid religious associations to conduct services in residences. The two-story house was built as a home on a lot belonging to the pastor of the church, Sergei Vashchenko, and the church administrator, Vadim Osmukhin. The plaintiff in this case is a neighbor from the next lot, who also declared that the premises to which members of the church came supposedly presented a threat to the life and health of him and members of his family. During judicial hearings, representatives of the church acknowledged that the structure had been erected without receipt of the necessary permissions, but they claimed that they in no way violated the rights of its neighbor and, of course, they did not acknowledge a threat to life and health. However the court did not take account of these circumstances nor that worship services were conducted in the building nor the bias of the neighbor against the believers, but it just ordered that the structure be removed.

After an appeal of the decision of the city court, the case was reviewed by the Supreme Court of the republic of Khakasia. At first, as the administrator of the church, Vadim Osmukhin, reported to the Press Service of SLC, the Supreme Court received supplements submitted by the owners of the pastor's house. The issue was that in April 2010, Sergei Vashchenko and Vadim Osmukhin had already been able to provide as a supplement to their appeal relevant documents about the structure: a copy of the technical passport and evidence of state registration and a house log. However the Sainogorsk city court refused to attach these materials to the case. Despite the Supreme Court's receiving the documents about the building, they were not taken into any account in the process of review of the case. According to the church administrator, in essence not a single question was asked in the court. The defendants were asked whether the church gathered together in this building and whether it was a residence, and that was all.

In addition the court rejected a petition from representatives of the church requesting an expert analysis. As church administrator Vadim Osmukhin noted, an expert analysis submitted by the plaintiff was sewn with white threads and it drew the conclusions that the pastor's home represented a threat and violated city construction regulations on the basis of frankly absurd arguments. For example, at the beginning of the analysis it says that the building was built in accordance with all regulations, but at the same time it noted that in the event of an earthquake of a magnitude of 7 or higher it could be destroyed and damage neighboring buildings. As shortcomings, it pointed to the glass door and to the space between the pastor's home and the home of the neighbor, which is 15 meters, although according to all regulations it should be no less than 6 meters and 15 meters clearly is greater, etc.

The church administrator emphasized that in the course of constructing the building, representatives of the church experienced difficulties with offices of architecture, construction, and the land committee. In addition, as Vadim Osmukhin reported, a year ago the prosecutor's office wanted to initiate a process for demolishing the pastor's house as the plaintiff, but the court did not accept the prosecutor's application and then the prosecutor joined the case of the believers' neighbor himself.

For members of the church it is obvious that there is the influence of the local FSB in this case. According to believers, the local FSB put pressure on an employee of the Bureau of Technical Information because she "botched the affair" by registering the structure of "sectarians who get money from Americans."

Simultaneously with the review of the case in the Sainogorsk court, republican television showed reports directed against the church in which it was said that supposedly many residents of Sainogorsk who live in the vicinity of the protestant church were upset by the construction of a new building of the church and they were unhappy about the conduct of parishioners who disturbed their rest in their own houses.

According to the church administrator, all local attorneys know that the case against the "Glorification" church is a purely political affair where there is no material interest but there is ideological subtext.

In the contemporary republic of Khakasia, the history of the soviet persecutions of Pentecostals in Chernogorsk and Sainogorsk is essentially being repeated. As in the years of soviet repressions, the news media begin to create out of the Christian church a sinister image of a "sect," and to make citizens with equal rightsÑwhich believers should beÑoutcastes.

Pentecostal churches of Khakasia were subjected to harsh persecutions back in soviet times, when in the 1960s believers' children were taken away from them because they did not wish to be Young Pioneers and refused to sing soviet songs. Protestant families of Vashchenko and Chmykhalov from Chernogorsk, located close to Sainogorsk, acquired world fame when local authorities created unbearable conditionsÑservices were disrupted, houses of worship were destroyed, and children were removed from the parents and placed in children's homes. As a result, in the spring of 1978 members of the Pentecostal families stormed the American embassy in Moscow, hoping that they and their fellow believers would be able to get permission for emigration. When attempts to persuade them to leave the embassy were ineffective, the Pentecostals were given a room in the basement where they lived in voluntary confinement for five years until they were permitted to go to USA in 1983. The current pastor of the "Glorification" church in Sainogorsk, Sergei Vashchenko, is a relative of those same Pentecostal emigrants who escaped the cruelty of soviet atheistic policy. The history of the Pentecostals from Khakasia who fled the repressions was published in the "Znamia" (2010, no. 7) magazine by Professor Lev Simkin under the title "Embassy Story." (tr. by PDS, posted 9 July 2010)

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

Jehovah's Witnesses released after 56 days in jail

TWO MOSCOW PROVINCE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ACCUSED OF STEALING
Portal-credo.ru, 9 July 2010

A couple of Jehovah's Witnesses, Anna Melkonian and Maria Zubko, were released on 1 July after 56 days spent in a pretrial cell, but they are still threatened with prosecution and charges of stealing.

The women, their attorneys, and the Society of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia insist that they were not involved in burglary of apartments that occurred in the Moscow suburb of Lobnia. Melkonian's attorney, Natalia Medved, told "Forum 18" that it is unclear whether the faith of the two women is connected with the accusations of stealing:  "Perhaps it is not merely a matter of their belonging to the Jehovah's Witnesses. Police could not find the real criminals, and since these two women are foreign citizens they thought that there would be nobody to defend them."

The two women were discussing their faith with an elderly woman on a street in Lobnya on 7 May when a police car stopped alongside them. After the policemen learned that the women were foreign citizens (Melkonian has Ukrainian citizenship and Zubko, Moldovan), they accused them of burglary of apartments. Despite their having an alibi, positive character references, and no previous convictions, they were sentenced to two months of pretrial confinement by a municipal court in Lobnya on 10 May, the Jehovah's Witnesses reported. After the release after 56 days, they still do not have the right to depart from the city without permission of an investigator as long as the investigation continues.

In recent years, Nursists and Jehovah's Witnesses have become victims of an active campaign in the struggle with "extremism" throughout the whole country, attempting to restrict their activity. Representatives of various state agencies have refused to explain who was the initiator of the campaign.  (tr. by PDS, posted 9 July 2010)

Russia Religion News Current News Items

---

If material is quoted, please give credit to the publication from which it came.