Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05MINSK1167
2005-09-26 08:11:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Minsk
Cable title:  

Protestant Churches Pressured

Tags:  PHUM PGOV KIRF BO 
pdf how-to read a cable
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PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSK #1167/01 2690811
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 260811Z SEP 05
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3047
INFO RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 3152
RUEHWR/AMEMBASSY WARSAW 3042
RUEHRA/AMEMBASSY RIGA 1421
RUEHVL/AMEMBASSY VILNIUS 3374
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0674
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
UNCLAS MINSK 001167 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL/IRF BARTH


SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KIRF BO
SUBJECT: Protestant Churches Pressured

REF: MINSK 0420

UNCLAS MINSK 001167

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL/IRF BARTH


SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KIRF BO
SUBJECT: Protestant Churches Pressured

REF: MINSK 0420


1. (SBU) Summary: The New Life Church has employed numerous
techniques to protest the GOB's denial of its re-
registration, but thus far without success. The latest
meeting between the church and the GOB has proven unfruitful
and neither side will yield its position; thus a cooperative
resolution to the problem seems unlikely. End summary.

--------------
Large Protestant Church Stands Up to the GOB
--------------


2. (U) Formed in 1992, the 1,000 member New Life Church
operated in Belarus without government interference until
1999, when a presidential decree altering the laws on
meetings and mass gatherings greatly restricted its ability
to assemble. Since it could not find a place to rent, the
church purchased a cow barn to hold its services. Further
complications arose in 2004, when the GOB refused to re-
register the church under the 2002 "Law on Religious
Freedom". The GOB claimed that the church lacked a legal
address and that a cow barn is not a place of worship.
Lacking re-registration, the congregation has continued to
meet at its cow barn. The GOB responded previously by
fining New Life Church Pastor Alexandr Goncharenko and
Administrator Vaseliy Yurevich (reftel),and evicting the
church from its building in August.


3. (U) New Life Church leaders, refusing to give up, have
implemented a series of nonviolent measures to keep their
building. Over the past three weeks, church members have
held a press conference, conducted round-the-clock worship
services, and sent a written appeal signed by 60 Protestant
Church representatives to the GOB. Most recently,
Goncharenko and Yurevich planned for their entire
congregation to march to Minsk City Hall and demand a
meeting with the mayor on September 15. However, they
agreed to postpone it after Deputy Interior Minister Viktor
Filistovich approached the church leaders and offered them a
meeting on Monday September 19 with senior city officials.


4. (U) Not surprisingly, the senior officials backed out of
the meeting. Instead, they sent their deputies, including
Committee on Religious and Nationality Affairs (CRNA) deputy
Aleksandr Kalinov and Minsk City Executive Committee
Representative for Religious Affairs Alla Ryabtseva. The

deputies admitted they did not have authority to make
decisions about the New Life Church, and thus the meeting
proved to be unproductive.

--------------
GOB Offers New Life Church Nothing New
--------------


5. (U) When Poloff met with CRNA Head Stanislav Buko and
Kalinov on September 16, Buko repeated the GOB position that
the New Life Church's building is a barn and therefore
cannot legally be registered as a place of worship. In
addition, Buko stated that the Minsk City Council has re-
zoned the land where the cow barn is located for apartment
buildings and therefore the New Life Church cannot remain
there. Buko explained the New Life Church has three
options: re-register at a legal address of one of the other
Protestant churches in Minsk; accept a government buyout for
the building; or chose another piece of land from the GOB to
build a place of worship.


6. (SBU) In a meeting with Poloff on September 20, Yurevich
and Goncharenko stated that the authorities presented them a
placebo, not a solution. They maintain that the GOB appears
to resolve the issue by offering to re-register at a
different address or move their place of worship. However,
the New Life Church cited several problems with changing
their legal address. First, gaining re-registering is very
difficult if not impossible in Lukashenko's Belarus.
Second, even if the government re-registers the church, the
GOB still has the legal authority to deny the New Life
Church approval to assemble for worship at its legal
address. Third, the church's efforts to find a different
location have been unsuccessful because the GOB pressures
potential landlords not to rent to the church. Finally, the
large size of the congregation prohibits it from meeting
anywhere else in Minsk.

--------------
The Struggle Must Go On
--------------


7. (U) Goncharenko and Yurevich stated that the church
would neither re-register nor give up its land. They told
Poloffthat the congregation is planning to march to the
Mayor's office to demand that the authorities reslve the re-
registration issue. They fully expet to be beaten, fined,
and possibly jailed, but are prepared to see this struggle
"to the end." [ote: On September 23, Yurevich stood trial
for ilegal assembly charges dating from July. The cour
found him guilty and fined him BYR 4 million [UD 1,860].]

--------------
The New Life Church is Not Alone
--------------


8. (U) The New Life Church is not the only Protestant group
being targeted by the GOB. On September 21, the Minsk City
Council annulled the registration of the Belarusian
Evangelic Church. The community registered in 1992 using
the pastor's home as their legal address. Authorities cited
the 2002 religion law prohibiting the use of a residential
building for office space as the reason for de-registration.
In addition, the GOB noted the church does not meet the
minimum membership requirement of 20 people. Evangelical
Church Pastor Ernest Sabilo, however, will not let the GOB's
decision stop him for he plans to continue holding services
wherever possible.

--------------
Comment
--------------


9. (SBU) The CRNA's three alternative solutions for the New
Life Church blatantly overlook the underlying issue - a
political decision was seemingly made to deny re-
registration to the New Life Church. The church leaders,
however, are not ready to give up their cause without a
fight, suggesting that cooperative attempts for a resolution
have been exhausted. In addition, the GOB's annulment of
the Evangelical Church's registration indicates an increase
in the trend of GOB violations on freedom of religion.

KROL