Source:         www.forum18.org

Date:            May 30, 2007

 
By Geraldine Fagan, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>
 
Jaroslaw Lukasik, a Polish citizen, today (30 May) received a second
deportation order and a small fine from a Minsk administrative commission
for engaging in "illegal religious activity" during the Pentecost service
last Sunday (27 May) of John the Baptist Pentecostal Church, he told Forum
18 News Service from Central District Police Station in the Belarusian
capital. Under the latest deportation order, he has been given eight days
to leave the country - or until the end of 7 June. He may not return for
five years, or until 31 May 2012.
 
This latest deportation order coincides with one of 8 May under which
Lukasik must leave Belarus by 8 June (see F18News 17 May 2007
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=958>). His wife and their
three children are Belarusian citizens.
 
In addition, Lukasik told Forum 18, he was today fined the minimum monthly
wage, or 31,000 Belarusian roubles (88 Norwegian Kroner, 11 Euros or 14 US
Dollars). He intends to appeal both deportation order and fine.
 
"I was present at the service and prayed - that's normal participation,"
he remarked. "But even though we produced a statement signed by a whole
list of church members saying that I did not preach that Sunday, the police
insisted on their own version." Lukasik said that several of the state
representatives who conducted Sunday's raid on the Pentecostal church had
signed a protocol maintaining that he had conducted illegal religious
activity at the service. "But I haven't seen it, so I don't know precisely
of what sort of activity I am accused."
 
Detained for several hours following the 27 May police raid, Lukasik was
ordered to go before an administrative commission at midday today. Speaking
to Forum 18 shortly afterwards, he said he was waiting for police to finish
issuing his deportation papers and would then be free to leave the station.
 
Also reached by Forum 18 on 30 May, an official of Minsk District's
Citizenship and Migration Department confirmed the details of today's
deportation order and fine, but at first refused to provide further details
by telephone. Asked nevertheless for what crime Lukasik was being deported,
the official remarked: "For repeated violations of the regime governing the
presence of foreigners on the territory of Belarus. All the relevant
documentation has been given to him and everything's been explained to him
- if he disagrees, he can challenge the decision in court."
 
Following Sunday's raid, police held Pastor Antoni Bokun of John the
Baptist Pentecostal Church overnight, and a local court fined him 20 times
the minimum monthly wage the next day (see F18News 28 May 2007
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=964>). Pastor Bokun's
100-strong congregation has been meeting at his home since 2001 because the
authorities refuse to allow the church to rent a building for worship.
Under the restrictive 2002 Religion Law, home worship meetings without
advance state approval are illegal.
 
While the 2002 Law does allow a religious organisation to meet at
free-standing residential premises with the consent of the local
authorities, in practice this is highly dependent upon the discretion of
individual officials (see F18News 7 October 2003
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=155>). The authorities have
consistently obstructed religious communities from meeting for worship in
residential buildings (see F18News 28 July 2005
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=619>).
 
Protestant communities have great difficulty in renting public buildings
for worship meetings. A consistent pattern has emerged in recent years, in
which those who control premises available for rent regularly back out of
contracts with Protestants soon after the authorities are informed (see
F18News 29 May 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=965>).
 
In a 29 May open statement to Minsk City Police Department, Bishop Sergei
Khomich of the Belarusian Pentecostal Union - to which John the Baptist
Church is affiliated - expresses his concern about Pastor Bokun's recent
prosecution. "As a bishop, I am deeply troubled by the following
circumstance: On the day of Pentecost a pastor of a Pentecostal church
spent approximately 24 hours under arrest for celebrating a major religious
holiday in the same way as all Christians in our country."
 
Bishop Khomich also complains that "unlawful police action is leading to
increased tension in Belarusian society and destabilising the religious
situation". He calls for laws affecting religious activity to be brought
into line with the 1994 Belarusian Constitution.
 
Lukasik believes the purpose of Sunday's raid was to prosecute him further
after his public refutation of the 8 May deportation order (see F18News 17
May 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=958>).
 
The authorities in Belarus maintain tight controls on the religious
activity of foreign citizens. Under a 23 February 1999 Council of Ministers
decree, their work with local religious communities is subject to approval
by the State Committee for Religious and Ethnic Affairs. In requesting
permission for a foreign citizen to lead its activity, a religious
association must "give grounds for the necessity of such an invitation and
include a copy of documentation certifying the religious education of the
invitee." If successful, the foreign religious worker may conduct religious
activity only within places of worship belonging to or premises
continuously rented by the host religious organisation.
 
Last September a Polish Catholic priest narrowly escaped prosecution after
he celebrated Mass without state permission while passing through Minsk
(see F18News 3 October 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=849>). Foreign religious
workers invited by local religious communities of various confessions are
increasingly being barred from Belarus (see F18News 18 October 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=856>). (END)
 
For more background information see Forum 18's Belarus religious freedom
survey at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=888>.
 
A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=806>.
 
A printer-friendly map of Belarus is available at
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=europe&Rootmap=belaru>