OSCE DRAWS ATTENTION TO PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS, INCLUDING IN DONBASS
In Vienna, around 60 official representatives of member countries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe [OSCE], experts, and religious leaders discussed the problem of persecutions of Christians.
The expert conference on the topic "Strengthening efforts of preventing and combating intolerance and discrimination with regard to Christians, focusing on hate crimes, alienation, marginalization, and denial of rights" was held on 18 May 2015 in the Hofburg Congress Center, the Institute for Religious Liberty reports. . . .
After speeches of official representatives of governments, the conference continued work in the format of thematic sessions, which combined introductory reports with the possibility of discussion among all participants.
It is noteworthy that the official delegation from Russia along with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church tried to present the situation in Ukraine in such a light that supposedly priests of the Moscow patriarchate are experiencing previously unheard of religious persecution. In particular, the director of the sector for interreligious contacts of the RPTs, priest Dimitry Safonov, spoke about mass flight of priests of the UPTsMP from Ukraine and about the seizure of 19 churches by representatives of the Kiev patriarchate.
This information was rebutted by the first secretary of the representation of Ukraine to OSCE, Alexander Maznichenko. He said that the Russian side had again resorted to methods of false propaganda, thereby concealing its own policy of religious persecutions in occupied Crimea and harsh crimes against believers of diverse confessions in the Donbass that accompany the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
Detailed information about the situation in Ukraine and religious persecutions in the Donbass of the majority of believers, with the exception of Orthodox parishes of the Moscow patriarchate, was presented by the executive director of the Institute for Religious Liberty, Maksim Vasin. In his speech he noted that only the attention of the international community and the inclusion of this question on the agenda of negotiations at the highest level are able to put an end to religiously motivated crimes in the Donbass, which are being committed by separatists and illegal armed formations that are supported by Russia.
The Institute for Religious Liberty expert presented to conference participants the Report of Rights Advocates devoted to the problem of targeted persecutions of religious communities in occupied territories of eastern Ukraine. (tr. by PDS, posted 22 May 2015)
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