RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


 

 

Evangelical minister appeals to European court against Russian violation of rights

PASTOR FINED FOR READING BIBLE IN CAFE FILES COMPLAINT IN EUROPEAN COURT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Gazeta.ru, 29 July 2015

 

Pastor Aleksei Koliasnikov from Sochi sent to the European Court for Human Rights a complaint against the violation of four articles of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. This was reported by attorney Alexander Popkov, who is representing the pastor's interests.

 

The occasion was the decisions of Russian courts as the result of which the clergyman was found guilty of organizing a public event without submitting notification about its conduct for reading the Bible in a cafe that he had specifically rented for this purpose. He was fined 30,000 rubles.

 

Aleksei Koliasnikov's complaint speaks about violation of the right to a fair trial (article 6 of the convention) and violation of the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion (art. 9), freedom of expression of opinion (art. 10), and freedom of assembly and association (art. 11).

 

On 10 October 2014, municipal Judge Nikolai Volkov of judicial district No. 99 of the Khosta district of Sochi found Koliasnikov guilty of organizing a public event. (tr. by PDS, posted 31 July 2015)


Background articles:

COURT QUASHES FINE OF SOCHI PASTOR WHO READ BIBLE IN CAFE

Christian Portal of News and Analysis, 3 December 2014

 

The Khosta district court of Sochi reversed the decision of a municipal judge who fined a protestant pastor, Aleksei Koliasnikov, 30,000 rubles for reading the Bible in a cafe, newsru.com reports. His attorney, Alexander Popkov, stated that the decision was made inasmuch as "the municipal judge did not have any legal grounds for considering this case."

 

"The ruling issued by the unauthorized judge is subject to reversal. . . . As a result, this administrative case was sent for a new consideration in the Khosta district court," Popkov explained to OVD-Info.

 

The session will be conducted with the participation of the very same judge on 9 December, MediaZona writes. In the opinion of the lawyer, there is no evidence of an administrative violation of law in the actions of his client.

 

According to the news report of MediaZona, on 28 September Koliasnikov rented the premises of the Bel Canto cafe in Khosta district of Sochi for conducting a religious meeting. Its participants read the Bible aloud and discussed different points. At the end of the meeting, people in civilian clothing, who identified themselves as agents of the FSB, police, and prosecutor's office, entered the establishment.

 

After the arrest of the pastor, an administrative report was drawn up on the basis of part 2 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Violations of Law ("Organizing a public event without submitting notification of its conduct"). After reviewing it, a municipal judge assessed the maximum punishment in the form of a fine of 30,000 rubles.

 

We note that earlier Novaia Gazeta wrote about this incident. The publication, citing a certain document, confirmed that the Sochi service of the FSB, in connection with the incident, asked the prosecutor's office to inspect the café with the help of Rospotrebnadzor, Roszdravnadzor, the Sochi Board of Health, and the "E" Center. In the opinion of a representative of the FSB, whom the article quotes: "Behind the activity of the pastor stand people whose religious views are based on the ideology of pro-Western protestant religious movements with the financial support of countries of NATO and the European Union," and Pastor Koliasnikov "acts in violation of the canons of Christianity, including the notification of and coordination with municipal agencies." (tr. by PDS, posted 1 August 2015)


 

ATTORNEY VLADIMIR RAKHOVSKII: THE COURT'S DECISION IS COMPLETELY ILLEGAL

SOVA Center of News and Analysis, 3 February 2015

 

Attorney Vladimir Riakhovskii, who represented the interests of Pastor Aleksei Koliasnikov in court, commented for the SOVA Center on the decision of a Krasnodar territorial court finding the fine for the collective reading of the Bible in a cafe to be legal.

 

It is still too early to speak about the rationale for the judicial decision, because there is still no text of the decision itself. Therefore what guided the court can only be supposed.

 

The background of this case is as follows. Pastor Aleksei Koliasnikov has a small religious group that is not registered as a religious organization and which functions on the basis of the rights of a religious group. They conduct meetings for reading the bible in a Sochi cafe, which provides them the premises for conducting meetings. At that time, the cafe is not operating normally. This happens on Sundays from 1000 to 1300. Visitors are warned that a special service is going on, but if a person wants to enter and listen, he is admitted.

 

The deputy chief of the district FSB wrote a letter to the prosecutor's office saying that according to official information, a religious group was gathering in this café, which reads the Bible and interprets it in a distorted way, and in violation of Christian canons it reads it not in a hard copy but on electronic devices. This is where he saw a danger. In this letter he points out that this group, according to intelligence, has a connection with protestant Ukrainian organizations that are financed—not the group itself but these organizations—by western Europe and NATO. Such horrors.

 

On the basis of this letter, the prosecutor's office of the city of Sochi organized an inspection on the site. In addition to the prosecutor's office, representatives of the MVD and FSB participated. They arrived at this cafe and were told that a meeting of a religious group was going on there. They expressed a desire to attend and they struck up some discussion. At the conclusion of this event, they drew up a report to the effect that a meeting of a religious group had been conducted without notifying agencies of executive power.

 

On the basis of this, the Sochi prosecutor ordered the opening of a criminal case for violation of the law "On meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches, and picketing." And a Khosta district court of Sochi on 12 December 2014 issued a decision imposing a fine on the basis of part 2 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Violations of Law of the RF (conducting a public event without submitting in established form notification of its conduct).

 

We have appealed this decision. I did not participate in the trial at the first instance. I joined later. The case was remanded for a new consideration and on 28 January 2015, a Krasnodar territorial court left the decision of the Khosta court in force.

 

I consider that the decision of the court is completely illegal. In accordance with the law "On freedom of conscience and religious associations," a religious organization conducts services or events without hindrance, including in premises that have been provided to religious organizations for these purposes on other bases. That is, not only in their own property but also if it is a rental, but it is provided for conducting an event, and that means it should be conducted without hindrance. This means that no notification, coordination, or permission is required. That should be the end of the matter.

 

However the Khosta court cited the law "On meetings, rallies, and marches," providing the conducting without notification only of a one-person picket. But if it is a collective meeting of citizens presupposing "discussion of socially significant matters and making a decision"—how is it possible for one person to discuss and made a decision? We leave that to the court's imagination.

 

We are now awaiting the text of the decision and, of course, we will appeal it in the process of oversight. The first stage will be the chairman of the Krasnodar territory court. I think that will be a useless step, because the Krasnodar court already has issued its opinion, but it is simply necessary procedurally. Then it will be the Supreme Court.

 

If we hear in the decision a phrase about a meeting with a single person then we will have full reason to turn immediately to the Constitutional Court.

 

We are obligated to pursue this case to the end, because it is creating a very dangerous precedent. (tr. by PDS, posted 1 August 2015)



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