NOVOSIBIRSK: MORMONS FORBIDDEN TO BUILD CHURCH DESPITE COURT DECISION
The Russian Supreme Court required Novosibirsk authorities to amend the zoning plans of city territory so that the local congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) could build a church in the center of the city. This was stated yesterday at a session of the city council by Vice-Mayor Alexander Kondratiev, a correspondent of Sibir.Realii reports. The official announced that the city government will do everything possible so as not to fulfill, or to delay the fulfillment of, the court's decision.
Yesterday the Commission on Municipal Property of the Council of Deputies of Novosibirsk discussed the possibility of transferring a land parcel of more than 2,000 square meters in the center of the city—at the intersection of Pisarev and Semia Shamshin streets—from a recreational zone to a zone for public business development. A decision of the Russian Supreme Court in a lawsuit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which has taken legal effect, required doing this at the next session of the Council of Deputies scheduled for late February.
However officials declared that they are continuing to oppose the construction. "We have dragged out this decision for three years, but the Supreme Court did not understand us. We shall use other methods," the head of the Department of Construction and Architecture of the city hall of Novosibirsk, Alexander Kondratiev, declared, without explaining just what methods the city government will use.
Municipal deputy Valery Naumenko stated that he himself and many of his collegues do not share the position of Russian Supreme Court and he called the church building of the Mormons "satanic," drawing parallels with the permission for construction of a church by St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak. Official representatives of the congregation of Mormons in Novosibirsk were not able to comment on the situation for the editorial board of Sibir.Realii.
The disputed parcel in Novosibirsk was acquired by the Mormon congregation in 2014 for 65 million rubles. In 2015 the landowners appealed to city hall for permission to construct the church building, but they were refused; officials declared that the parcel was intended only for the construction of a green zone. In arbitration court of Novosibirsk oblast it was revealed that city hall changed the designation of the land after it was turned over to the ownership of the congregation. The court ordered city authorities to grant permission for construction. At the time, officials appealed the decision in the 7th Arbitration Court, which also took the side of the Mormons. Then the lawsuit was sent to the Supreme Court of the Russian federation. (tr. by PDS, posted 8 February 2018)
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