Protestant Church Can Be Ruined In Minsk :: Charter'97 :: News

The building of the Minsk Protestant church “New Life” (Fellowship of the Churches of the Full Gospel) is under a threat of being ruined. The Administration of the Moscow district of Minsk has demanded to liquidate the “unauthorized construction carried out by a religious community” on its land in Kavalyou Street, 72 in Minsk (vicinity of the former village of Sukharava). Otherwise the building would be destroyed by “community services”. The Administration of Moscow district wrote it in the letter received by the church “New Life” on December 14. The letter was signed by N.V.Skipar, first deputy of the head of the Moscow district Administration of Minsk, the human rights center “Viasna” informs.

“We are not be carrying out any construction works,” told the administrator of the church Vasil Yurevich. As said by Yurevich, for several years the church is trying to get permission of the authorities to carry out reconstruction and rearrangement of the cowshed according to the church’s needs. “We think that the Minsk executive committee has a plan with the aim to take away the land and building from our church. We have been refused re-registration, the pastor was summoned to police regularly. The warning to ruin the building is another occasion of pressure by authorities,” told Vasil Yurevich.

Meanwhile the believers are deprived of the possibility to gather for Sunday services. Till recently from 500 to 700 of people attended the services of the church “New Life”.