RUSSIAN CONSTITUTIONAL
COURT WILL
CONSIDER QUESTION OF POSSIBILITY OF CONDUCTING WORSHIP IN A
PRIVATE HOME
by Mikhail Telekhov
The Russian
Constitutional Court will
consider on 8 October the question of the possibility of the use
by the owner
of a parcel of land that is intended for the location of an
individual
residence for conducting worship services, rituals, and
ceremonies, RAPSI was
told at the press service of the Constitutional Court.
The
claimant is a
resident of Rostov oblast, Olga Glamozdinova; she is asking for
a verification
of the constitutionality of a paragraph of the second article of
the Land Code
of the RF and of part 1 of article 8.8 of the Code on
Administrative Violations
of Law of the RF, which establish the responsibility of owners
for the use of
land not in accordance with its intended use.
The
resident of Rostov
oblast, Olga Glamozdinova, is a parishioner of the Church of
Seventh-Day
Adventist Christians in the village of Veselyi. From the
materials of the case it
follows that as the owner of a residential building and a parcel
of land of
about a quarter acre, in January 2017 she provided for the free
use by the
aforementioned church of her home for conducting worship
services, rituals, and
ceremonies for four hours a week.
"Also
the owner
gave her consent for including in the Uniform Register of Legal
Entities the
address of this building as the legal address of the religious
organization,
for conducting communication with the legal entity, which is not
prohibited by
the federal law 'On freedom of conscience and religious
associations,'"
Glamozdinova's appeal states. It is also noted there that this
church is small
and it does not have any real estate nor a rented office.
The
claimant reports
that in September 2017, a district department of the Office of
the Rosreestr
for Rostov oblast held her administratively accountable and
fined her 10,000
rubles for the misuse of the land. The Bagaev district court of
Rostov oblast
and also the Rostov oblast court left the decision of the
supervisory office
without changes.
In
Glamozdinova's
opinion, the rules being challenged are inconsistent with
articles 28, 35 (part
2), and 55 (part 3) of the constitution of the RF inasmuch as
they violate her
right to freely own and dispose of her property and also her
right to freedom
of conscience and religious confession. She thinks that the
rules being
challenged do not comport with the requirements of specificity,
clarity, and unambiguity
of a law and of their consistency in the system of effective
legal regulation.
(tr. by PDS, posted 4 October 2019)
COUNCIL
ON HUMAN
RIGHTS SENDS TO CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CONCLUSION ON CASE OF
ADVENTIST
CHALLENGING LAND CODE
Website
of Council
on
Human Rights, 3 October 2019
The
Council on the
Development of Civil Society and Human Rights under the
president of the
Russian Federation today sent to the Constitutional Court an
expert conclusion
of the council's permanent commission for scientific and legal
expert analysis
and for development of alternative means to resolve conflicts,
which was
prepared in connection with the appeal by a parishioner of the
Church of Seventh-Day
Adventist Christians from Rostov oblast, Olga Glamozdinova, who
is challenging
the rules of the Land Code and the Code on Administrative
Violations of Law, on
the basis of which she was fined 10,000 rubles for use of land
for other than
its intended purpose, since worship services were conducted in a
building
located on it.
Glamozdinova's
appeal
will be considered on 8 October.
A
member of the
Council on Human Rights, Vladimir Riakhovsky, commented on the
problem.
"Part 2
of
article 16 of the law 'On freedom of conscience. . .' indicates
that worship
services and other religious rituals and ceremonies are
conducted without
hindrance not only in liturgical buildings but also in other
buildings
belonging to religious organizations and in residential
premises. This rule is
not consistent with rules of land legislation and with
legislation concerning
administrative violations of law, which permit agencies of the
Federal Service
of State Registration of Cadastre and Cartography to hold to
administratively
account religious organizations and believers who own
nonresidential and
residential premises and provide them for conducting worship
services. There is
here legal imprecision, which gives rise to violation of
constitutional rights
of believers. I am not talking about the fact that the rule
concerning the
possibility of religious rituals in residences may turn out to
be 'dead'—after all,
a parcel of land under a residence cannot have a religious
purpose. A more
general question also arises which must also be resolved by the
Constitutional
Court: how far do permissible limits on the interference of
agencies of public
authority extend into the sphere of the conduct of worship
services?" (tr.
by PDS, posted 4 October 2019)
CONSTITUTIONAL
COURT
WILL REVIEW APPEAL OF EVANGELICAL BELIEVERS ON USE OF LAND
Website
of the ROSKhVE,
4
October 2019
On 8
October 2019,
in St. Petersburg, a session of the Russian Constitutional Court
will be held
devoted to testing the constitutionality of a paragraph of the
second article
42 of the Land Code of the RF and part 1 of article 8.8 of the
Code on Administrative
Violations of Law of the RF. It is these points of the law that
have served as
the basis for a whole series of cases bringing believers and
religious
organizations to administrative accountability for improper use
of the land
under residential buildings during the conduct of worship
services inside them.
The
session of the
Constitutional Court will be open.
The
immediate reason
for considering the case is an appeal by a parishioner of the
Church of
Seventh-Day Adventist Christians, Olga Glamozdinova. As the
owner of a
residential building and a parcel of land, in January 2017 she
made available
her house for conducting worship services for four hours per
week and she
agreed to the inclusion in the Uniform State Register of Legal
Entities of the
address of this building as the legal address of the religious
organization. In
September 2017, the district department of the Administration of
Rosreestr for
Rostov oblast held Olga Glamozdinova administratively
accountable and fined her
10,000 rubles for use of land for unintended purposes. Moreover,
judicial
proceedings subsequent to this left this decision in force.
It
turns out that
the standards by which people are held accountable—and the case
of Olga
Glamozdinova is far from unique—are not consistent with the
constitution of the
RF inasmuch as they violate the right freely to own and dispose
of one's
property and also the right to freedom of conscience and
religious confession.
The
rights of
believers will be defended by the distinguished attorney of
Russia and managing
partner of the Slavic Legal Center Vladimir Riakhovsky and an
attorney of the
Slavic Legal Center, Sergei Chugunov, who shared his comments
with the ROSKhVE [Russian
Associated Union of Christians of Evangelical Faith] press
service:
"The
problem
with holding believers and religious organizations
administratively accountable
for misuse of land under residential buildings while conducting
worship
services inside them is rather surprising, since it is not
connected with any
changes in the land legislation.
"However
now,
looking back, I think that the start of this problem may be
connected with the
fact that in 2016 the 'Yarovaya Package' introduced a standard
into the Housing
Code prohibiting the transfer of residential premises to
nonresidential
premises for purposes of conducting religious activity. And
after this there
began the prosecution for conducting worship services in
residential buildings.
As a result of this, believers conducting their worship services
in residential
buildings find themselves in a stalemate—they cannot assemble
and the premises
cannot be reclassified.
"Therefore
I
believe that this is a deliberate strategy that somebody dreamed
up in order to
suppress the activity of religious minorities, especially
protestants, whom
this problem affects most of all. Moreover, such a practice has
been extended
not only to residential premises but also to other buildings and
premises in
which religious organizations conduct their worship services.
Conducting
services in these buildings also is regarded by the oversight
agencies as the
use of a parcel of land in ways for which it is not intended. I
hope that the
Russian Constitutional Court, in reviewing our appeal, will
protect the right
of citizens to freedom of religious confession from unjustified
restrictions."
Valery
Dmitrievich Zorkin
will preside in
the proceedings. Liudmila Mikhailovna Zharkova will be the judge
rapporteur.
(tr. by PDS, posted 5 October 2019)
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