BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07/01/2010

Belarus accused of harassing Christian group

By: Judy West.

Belarusian officials continue to harass New Life Full Gospel Church, Forum 18 News Service has learnt.

Belarus accused of harassing Christian group

On 4 January the church received a summons from the Minsk City Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Committee, claiming that the church had polluted the ground around its building with oil, causing large amounts of damage.

Church members reject the allegation, Sergei Lukanin noting that "for some reason they only took samples from the road which comes into the car park. Of course they're going to find traces of oil there."

Belarus also continues to people for the "offence" of unregistered religious activity. Challenged about two heavy fines of a pensioner for this "offence", Lyudmila Paprakova of Grodno Ideology Department told Forum 18 that "we don't have such persecution here. We're absolutely democratic."

After a woman was fined for allowing her home to be used for unregistered worship, Alla Starikevich of Brest City Ideology Department described the role of officials who started the case as "to maintain mutual relations with religious communities."

Source:

http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=5430


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