BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

20/02/2006

Protestants oppressed in Belarus

Pastor Ernst Sabilo - who spent 13 years in Soviet labour camps for his faith - has pledged that the Belarusian Evangelical Church he leads in the capital Minsk will continue to meet for worship despite the liquidation of its legal status by the city court in September.

Belarus' restrictive 2002 religion law bans unregistered religious activity. 'They could fine us for gathering - but we have no other option,' Sabilo told Forum 18 News Service. The legal liquidation came a month after the same court dissolved a Calvinist church.

A whole range of other religious communities which failed to gain re-registration by the deadline remain in legal limbo. The pastor of a Protestant church in the Minsk region, which was denied re-registration and ordered to 'liquidate itself', told Forum 18 he is optimistic that a new registration application will be successful.

Source:

http://www.evangelical-times.org/ETNews/Nov05/Nov05n20.htm