Source: www.forum18.org
Date: October 3, 2021
The unrecognised Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine, has
this summer banned three Protestant churches. One of the churches appears
still able to meet for worship as it tries to gain registration. The rebel
entity's latest Religion Law change restricts registered religious
associations' activities to "participants and/or members". In June the
Culture Minister ordered musical and other artistic institutions to display
lists of banned books & organisations.
DONBAS: Donetsk: Three Protestant churches banned
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2689&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNF95GuR1rkNcGCUwIhO2bqC-g4VdA">https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
On 17 June 2021, the internationally unrecognised Donetsk People's Republic
(DPR) entity's General Prosecutor's Office announced that prosecutors had
sent a suit to the Arbitration Court in Donetsk to liquidate two Protestant
churches, Good News Baptist Church and the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
The rebel-held entity in eastern Ukraine claimed the suits had been
launched "with the aim of removing violations" of the Religion Law, and
announced that the Arbitration Court had upheld the suits and banned the
two churches (see below).
On 25 June, the General Prosecutor's Office made a further announcement
that Yenakievo Prosecutor's Office had sent a suit to the Arbitration Court
in Donetsk to ban the activity of a Baptist church in the town of
Yenakievo, Church of the Awakening, as well as any "branches or
sub-divisions". Church of the Awakening was taken by surprise by the
announcement. "Nobody informed them," a Baptist told Forum 18 on 27
September. "But their registration documents have once again been submitted
for consideration. There is a certificate from the Justice Ministry that
the documents are under consideration." Baptists told Forum 18 that the
Arbitration Court upheld the suit and banned the Church of the Awakening.
Officials noted though that the registration denials did not deprive the
Church of the right to re-submit documents. "So far, this court decision
has not affected the life of the church" (see below)
Genral Prosecutor's Office and Arbitration Court officials have refused to
answer any questions. An official of the Religion and Nationalities
Department of the Culture Ministry in Donetsk, who refused to give his
name, refused to say why prosecutors had brought suits to court to
liquidate the three Protestant Churches. "I can't say by phone," he told
Forum 18 and put the phone down (see below).
The unrecognised DPR authorities ban religious communities on three
grounds: firstly for not having the registration officials demand; secondly
after being specifically banned by a court for failing to gain
registration; and thirdly after a court has found them to be "extremist".
All non-Moscow Patriarchate religious communities are banned from
functioning if they failed to get re-registration by 1 March 2019 (see
below).
The latest March amendments to the much-amended 2016 DPR Religion Law
change the definition of what constitutes a religious association. The
reworded Article 6 continues to say – against international human rights
standards - that religious associations exist only if they are registered.
It also gives a new and more restrictive definition of a religious
association, restricting its activities to only "participants and/or
members" (see below).
The unrecognised DPR authorities also have an increasing list of banned
literature. The latest June 2021 Justice Ministry "List of Extremist
Materials" contains 97 items, some of them religious. Most publications
banned by the Supreme Court – including Jehovah's Witness and Muslim
publications – also appear on the Justice Ministry banned List (see
below).
On 25 June 2021, Culture Minister Mikhail Zheltyakov wrote to the heads of
all institutions under the Ministry's control, such as musical and other
artistic institutions, reminding them of all the banned organisations and
banned publications in the internationally unrecognised rebel DPR. He
attached the two lists to his letter (seen by Forum 18) and instructed all
institutions to display the two lists publicly in their institutions (see
below).
Members of a wide range of religious communities prefer not to discuss
their situation for fear of reprisals. They have also told Forum 18 that
they fear that meeting for worship in private homes could lead to raids and
possible punishment (see below).
The rebel authorities have also seized numerous places of worship of a
variety of religious communities, including those belonging to Baptists,
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(commonly known as Mormons), Seventh-day Adventists, Muslims, as well as
Donetsk Christian University. Rebel officials claim many were abandoned,
but communities deny this (see below).
Pro-Russian rebels seized parts of Ukraine's Donetsk Region in April 2014
and proclaimed what they called the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). Heavy
fighting ensued. The rebel administration currently controls nearly half of
Ukraine's Donetsk Region.
Severe restrictions
The internationally unrecognised DPR authorities impose severe restrictions
on all exercise of the right to freedom of religion or belief.
The internationally unrecognised DPR entity's June 2016 Religion Law did
not explicitly ban exercising freedom of religion or belief without
official permission but did impose other restrictions against international
human rights standards. In outlining procedures for gaining official
permission to exist the Religion Law presumed that such permission was
required (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2428&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNEtILAOo294Je0gzyqOogV4RXexzQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
2018 Religion Law amendment required all non-Moscow Patriarchate religious
organisations to re-register by 1 March 2019. The amendment specifically
banned religious organisations from functioning if they failed to get
re-registration by the deadline.
New more restrictive definition of permitted religious association
The latest amendments to the much-amended 2016 DPR Religion Law
(https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2428&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNEtILAOo294Je0gzyqOogV4RXexzQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
of what constitutes a religious association. The internationally
unrecognised DPR's People's Council approved the amendments on 26 March
2021, and its leader Denis Pushilin signed them on 30 March. The reworded
Article 6 continues to say – against international human rights standards
- that religious associations exist only if they are registered.
It also gives a new and more restrictive definition of a religious
association, restricting their activities to only "participants and/or
members".
The latest March amendment's more restrictive definition of a religious
association removes the statement that it conducts: "missionary practice
and religious educational activity, including the spread of religious
knowledge, the provision of professional religious education and the
religious education of its participants".
The three elements of a religious association's activity under the March
amendments are:
holding religious beliefs;
"conducting worship services and other religious rites and ceremonies";
and "the teaching of religion and the religious education of its
participants and/or members".
Denying registration arbitrarily, raids, re-entry denial
Officials routinely deny registration to religious communities they do not
like on arbitrary grounds. Two religious communities have chosen not to
seek registration. Communities of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine (the
former Kyiv Patriarchate) do not apply for registration as they consider
this as recognition of the unrecognised DPR authorities. Communities of the
Baptist Council of Churches follow their practice elsewhere of refusing to
seek official permission to exercise the right to freedom of religion or
belief.
The rebel DPR authorities have throughout the unrecognised entity's
existence raided religious communities meeting for worship and handed down
fines (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2422&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNE5rMDCyo0FuM5jU4pMy7NfohsDrQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
2019, the head of a Protestant church in Makeyevka was fined because the
church continued to function after being refused registration
(https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2542&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNGFCiMb65ny5e4FD2R87q_Gw76EAQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
security forces raided a Protestant community during its Sunday morning
worship meeting. It appears no fines were subsequently handed down.
In autumn 2019, Fr Aleksandr Sushko, a priest of the Orthodox Church of
Ukraine, temporarily travelled out of the rebel-held area into
government-controlled Ukraine. However, when he sought re-entry to
rebel-held Donetsk, its officials barred him entry
(https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2542&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNGFCiMb65ny5e4FD2R87q_Gw76EAQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
the ban in writing.
Prosecutors, courts ban three religious communities
Officials appear to have decided to close down religious communities which
failed to gain registration by the 1 March 2019 deadline
(https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2428&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNEtILAOo294Je0gzyqOogV4RXexzQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
On 17 June 2021, the General Prosecutor's Office announced that prosecutors
had sent a suit to the Arbitration Court in Donetsk to liquidate two
Protestant churches, Good News Baptist Church and the Church of Our Lord
Jesus Christ. It claimed the suits had been launched "with the aim of
removing violations" of the Religion Law. "Violation of the procedure for
registering religious organisations leads to their liquidation," the
General Prosecutor's Office noted.
The General Prosecutor's Office also announced that the Arbitratiuon Court
had upheld the suits and banned the two churches. "Court decisions
recognised the claims of the prosecutor declared and supported in the court
sessions as justified and satisfied," the General Prosecutor's Office
added.
On 25 June, the General Prosecutor's Office made a further announcement
that Yenakievo Prosecutor's Office had sent a suit to the Arbitration Court
in Donetsk to ban the activity of a Baptist church in the town of
Yenakievo, Church of the Awakening, as well as any "branches or
sub-divisions". The suit was lodged "in the interests of the state, and in
particular the Culture Ministry and the Justice Ministry", the General
Prosecutor's Office added. It said church representatives could collect a
copy of the suit and the attached documents from Yenakievo Prosecutor's
Office.
Church of the Awakening was taken by surprise by the announcement. "Nobody
informed them," a fellow Baptist who asked not to be identified told Forum
18 on 27 September. "But their registration documents have once again been
submitted for consideration. There is a certificate from the Justice
Ministry that the documents are under consideration."
Baptists told Forum 18 that the Arbitration Court upheld the suit and
banned the Church of the Awakening. It had earlier tried to register
several times, but each time was rejected. Officials noted though that the
registration denials did not deprive the Church of the right to re-submit
documents. "So far, this court decision has not affected the life of the
church," a Baptist said.
Forum 18 was unable to reach Yenakievo's Prosecutor Konstantin Gerasimenko
to find out why he wanted to close down the Church of the Awakening. The
telephone went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 1 October.
Officials at the Arbitration Court refused to answer any questions by
telephone on 28 September, asking that questions be sent in writing. Forum
18 sent written questions the same day asking for copies of the court
decisions and whether the three Churches had appealed against the banning
decisions. Forum 18 received no response by the end of the working day in
Donetsk of 4 October.
An official of the Religion and Nationalities Department at the Culture
Ministry in Donetsk, told Forum 18 on 28 September that its head, Sergei
Gavrish, was not in the office. The official refused to say why prosecutors
had brought suits to court to liquidate the three Protestant Churches. "I
can't say by phone," he said and put the phone down.
Forum 18 sent a written enquiry to the Culture Ministry spokesperson on 28
September as to why prosecutors brought the suits to liquidate the three
Churches. Forum 18 received no response by the end of the working day in
Donetsk of 4 October.
Banning religious communities
The unrecognised DPR authorities ban religious communities on three
grounds:
firstly for not having the registration officials demand;
secondly after being specifically banned by a court for failing to gain
registration (such as the 2021 bans on the three Protestant Churches –
see above);
and thirdly after a court has found them to be "extremist".
On 13 April 2018, the DPR People's Council adopted an amendment to the
Religion Law requiring all non-Moscow Patriarchate organisations to
re-register by 1 March 2019
(https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2428&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNEtILAOo294Je0gzyqOogV4RXexzQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
specifically banned religious organisations from functioning if they failed
to get re-registration by the deadline.
Registration was supposed to be enacted by the Justice Ministry on the
recommendation of the Religion and Nationalities Department of the Culture
Ministry.
However, most non-Moscow Patriarchate communities (including all Protestant
communities) were initially rejected. Only later in 2019 did a few more get
registration. The Justice Ministry listed 36 non-Moscow Patriarchate
religious communities as having registration as of 1 September 2019
(https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2542&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNGFCiMb65ny5e4FD2R87q_Gw76EAQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
Seventh-day Adventists - 4; Pentecostals - 3; Muslims - 2; Jews - 1; Greek
Catholics - 1; Hare Krishna devotees - 1. The Justice Ministry has issued
no new information subsequently.
The Justice Ministry refused to answer any questions about the registration
of religious communities. The Registration of Non-Commercial Organisations
referred all enquiries to the Culture Ministry. "This is no longer the
responsibility of the Justice Ministry," the official – who did not give
her name – told Forum 18 on 28 September 2021.
Forum 18's written enquiry to the Culture Ministry spokesperson on 28
September also asked whether the Culture Ministry has taken over
responsibility for registration; and whether the 36 non-Moscow Patriarchate
religious communities recorded by the Justice Ministry as having
registration as of 1 September 2019 still have it. Forum 18 received no
response by the end of the working day in Donetsk of 4 October 2021.
On 26 September 2018, the DPR rebels' Supreme Court in Donetsk banned all
Jehovah's Witness activity "in connection with the carrying out of
extremist activity" (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2428&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNEtILAOo294Je0gzyqOogV4RXexzQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
The suit had been brought by the then acting General Prosecutor Andrei
Spivak (now the General Prosecutor).
The General Prosecutor's Office announced on its website the same day that
any future activity by Jehovah's Witnesses "in any form" would face
punishment under the Criminal Code.
DPR Criminal Code
Article 329 of the DPR Criminal Code punishes "organising an extremist
organisation" with fines, compulsory labour or imprisonment of up to eight
years. "Participating in an extremist organisation" carries a maximum
punishment of four years' imprisonment. Recruiting others to join such an
organisation carries a maximum punishment of six years' imprisonment.
DPR Criminal Code Article 330 punishes "organising the activity of an
extremist organisation", including religious organisations, which have been
banned by a court. Organising such activity carries a maximum eight-year
prison term, participation in such activity carries a maximum four-year
prison term and recruiting others carries a maximum six-year prison term.
Jehovah's Witnesses are No. 51 on the DPR list of 53 "liquidated or banned
social and religious associations and other organisations".
Fear of reprisals
Members of a wide range of religious communities prefer not to discuss
their situation for fear of reprisals. They have also told Forum 18 that
they fear that meeting for worship in private homes could lead to raids and
possible punishment (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2422&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNE5rMDCyo0FuM5jU4pMy7NfohsDrQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
Growing list of banned books
On 20 July 2016, the DPR Supreme Court banned three Muslim booklets
published by the Donbas Muftiate. In four separate decisions from July 2017
to March 2018, the Supreme Court declared 11 Jehovah's Witness publications
"extremist" (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2428&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNEtILAOo294Je0gzyqOogV4RXexzQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
March decision banned four past issues of the Witnesses' religious
magazine, "The Watchtower". On 22 August the Supreme Court banned their
main international website https://www.google.com/url?q=http://jw.org&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNFzrkD6R_dHNhaWRfcZQkUxOlBFrg">jw.org.
No Supreme Court banning decision can be challenged in the DPR.
The latest religious books banned by the DPR as "extremist" were six
publications by the Latvian-based Pastor Aleksey Ledyayev, head of New
Generation Protestant Church. All six were available online in Russian on
the Church's website. On 28 January 2020, Donetsk's Voroshilovgrad
Inter-District Court declared them "extremist" and banned them. The Justice
Ministry later added them to its online "List of Extremist Materials".
Officials at Voroshilovgrad Inter-District Court refused to comment by
telephone on the banning of the six religious publications, asking for
questions to be sent in writing. Forum 18 asked in writing on 27 September
who had initiated the suit to ban the books and asking for a copy of the
January 2020 court decision. Forum 18 received no response by the end of
the working day in Donetsk of 4 October 2021.
The latest June 2021 Justice Ministry "List of Extremist Materials"
contains 97 items, some of them religious. Most of the publications banned
by the Supreme Court appear on the Justice Ministry banned List.
Artists ordered to display banned book and organisations lists
On 25 June 2021, Culture Minister Mikhail Zheltyakov wrote to the heads of
all institutions under the Ministry's control, such as musical and other
artistic institutions, reminding them of all the banned organisations and
banned publications in the internationally unrecognised rebel DPR. He
attached the two lists to his letter (seen by Forum 18) and instructed all
institutions to display the two lists publicly in their institutions.
Forum 18 tried to reach Viktoriya Kamynina, who drafted Zheltyakov's
letter, but her colleagues told Forum 18 on 1 October that she was not in
the office.
Seizing places of worship
In 2018 the DPR rebels seized two Orthodox churches in Donetsk
(https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2542&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNGFCiMb65ny5e4FD2R87q_Gw76EAQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
Orthodox Kyiv Patriarchate (now the Orthodox Church of Ukraine). In January
2019, the DPR entity formally opened a Registry Office in the seized
building of New Life Baptist Church in Makeyevka
(https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2542&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNGFCiMb65ny5e4FD2R87q_Gw76EAQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
first Deputy Justice Minister. The Justice Ministry refused in February
2020 to explain to Forum 18 through in February 2020 to ask the Deputy
Minister why.
The rebel authorities had earlier also seized numerous places of worship of
a variety of religious communities, including those belonging to Baptists,
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
(commonly known as Mormons), Seventh-day Adventists, Muslims, as well as
Donetsk Christian University
(https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2422&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNE5rMDCyo0FuM5jU4pMy7NfohsDrQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
claim many were abandoned, but communities deny this.
"Every country has its own Religion Law" ?
Asked about all these specific violations of the right to freedom of
religion or belief, the rebels' Human Rights Ombudsperson Darya Morozova
told Forum 18 in February 2020 that her office had received no appeals
about any such violations
(https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id%3D2542&source=gmail&ust=1633566265963000&usg=AFQjCNGFCiMb65ny5e4FD2R87q_Gw76EAQ">https://www.forum18.org/archi
take any action I need a written appeal from an individual or community,"
she insisted.
Asked why religious communities which meet for worship without registration
should be punished, Morozova insisted that everyone must follow the law.
"Each country has its own Religion Law," she claimed, wrongly. (END)
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