26 January 2009
BELARUS
Members of Minsk's charismatic New Life Church have vowed to fight on to
retain their building after the Higher Economic Court threw out their
appeal against moves to seize it. The state argues that the building is a
cowshed and is not being used for its legal purpose, despite church
attempts to have its usage changed.
As the court decision comes into force immediately, the Minsk authorities have the right to demand the building
"at any moment", church member and lawyer Sergei Lukanin pointed out to
Forum 18 News Service. He said the church has been "deceived" as it only
went to court after it was advised to do so by a senior Presidential
Administration official. Another official there, Lyudmila Vorovka, refused
to discuss the court decision. "The court decides this [issue], not us,"
she told Forum 18.
Meanwhile, a Baptist leader Aleksandr Yermalitsky was
fined on 8 January for hosting "a religious event at which the Bible was
read" at his home, while other Baptists running street libraries have had
literature confiscated and received court warnings for "singing songs of a
Christian nature without permission". Catholics told Forum 18 there has
been no progress in having the recent bar on seven Polish priests and nuns
overturned.
