Hare Krishna Follower Stands Trial In Homel For Singing Religious Songs Outdoors

Until now, no Krishaite has been fined for singing in the street in Belarus.

On July 18, the Homel district court considered an administrative offence charge, made by police officers against inhabitant of Peramoha settlement Siarhei Bondarau under article 23.34 of the administrative code (non-sanctioned mass event).

The police charge claimed that the mentioned citizen “broke the law, in particular, Article 12 of the Law on Mass Events, by participation in the street rally and signing religious songs on May 24, in Lenin Street in Pinsk”. The court resolved to subject Siarhei Bondarau to administrative responsibility in the form of a 2 base fees fine (Bn 42).

During the trial, the Homel district dweller claimed innocent and clarified he did yogha, considered himself a Hare Krishna follower and indeed visited Pinsk with his friends on May 24. They walked down the street, singing songs to accordion and drums, “praised God, sang about peace and the urge to keep it”.

“We walked around Pinsk, singing Hare Krisha, like all Krishnaites around the world, the people liked it. A district police officer appeared in the square area, he recorded our personal data, as they always do, but he had no claims against us. The passers-by were outraged, asked why they did not let us sing, why they stopped us. The policemen recorded our passport data and we went on. He didn’t tell us not to sing, so we continued walking and singing. At that moment, a police car arrived and they took us to the police department,” – Siarhei Bondarau has told BelaPAN news agency.

According to him, other people participated in the rally, both from Pinsk and from Minsk, but they only had to write an explanatory note.

The Homel district dweller cannot recall any Krishnaite ever being fined for singing in the street in Belarus. “We sing for the people and they like it. Because people like spirituality. And no one gives them spirituality, just taxes. We sang in Brest market, the police also arrived but all sellers came out of their pavilions and protected us, the policemen were simply intimidated. The people asked to leave us in peace. This is my first administrative punishment for the whole life,” – the Krishnaite is outraged.

After the consultations with lawyers he decided to appeal against the court decision.

Human rights defender, the Belarusian Helsinki Committee’s member Viktar Adzinochanka has informed that this is the first time in his practice that he heard about someone being fined for Hare Krishna songs in the street. “This is violation of the right to freedom of conscience, violation of the Constitution, which says everyone can freely practice their religion, alone or together with others. The court resolution says that it was a mass event, the participants of which walked and sang religious songs. So, the question is – was it a mass event or a religious one? It is not prohibited to practice a religion in our country. The people just walked and sang religious anthems, just like the Orthodoxies, or the Catholics, or the Protestants could do,” – the human rights defender has said.