Department

Published by Stetson University Russia Religion News, February 28, 2005

US State Department report on religious rights in Russia

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respected this right in practice; however, in some cases the authorities imposed restrictions on some groups. Although the Constitution provides for the equality of all religions before the law and for the separation of church and state, the Government did not always respect these provisions in practice.

Neither the Constitution nor the law accords explicit privileges or advantages to the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) or the other groups formally designated traditional religions Judaism, Islam and Buddhism; however, increasingly some politicians advocated preferential treatment of these four faiths. Statements by some government officials, including President Putin, and anecdotal evidence from religious minority groups, suggested that the ROC, in particular increasingly enjoyed a status that approached official. The ROC has significantly greater access to certain governmental institutions, such as the army, than other religious groups. The ROC appeared to have had greater success reclaiming pre revolutionary property than other groups, and many religious workers believed that the ROC played a role in the cancellation of visas held by foreign religious workers representing nontraditional religions. Many religious minority groups and NGOs complained of what they believed was collusion between the ROC and the State.

Treatment of religious organizations, particularly minority denominations, varied widely in the regions, depending on the decisions of local officials. In some areas, such as Moscow, Khabarovsk, and Chelyabinsk, local authorities prevented minority religious denominations from reregistering as local religious organizations, as required by law, subjecting them to campaigns of legal harassment.

Contradictions between federal and local law in some regions and varying interpretations of the law gave some regional officials pretexts to restrict the activities of religious minorities. Discriminatory practices at the local level were attributable to the relatively greater susceptibility of local governments to lobbying by majority religions, as well as to discriminatory attitudes that were widely held in society. For example, articles heavily biased against religions considered "non traditional" appeared regularly in both the local and national press. There were reports of harassment of members of religious minority groups. Several religious communities were forced to defend themselves in court against charges by local authorities that they were engaging in harmful activities. At times local courts demonstrated their independence by dismissing frivolous cases or ruling in favor of the religious organizations; however, in some of these cases, authorities were slow to carry out, or refused to carry out, such rulings and in many cases appealed them.

Two congregations of the unregistered Union of Baptist Churches (known as Initsiativniki) experienced violence that they believe was promoted by the authorities. In January, a bomb destroyed an Initsiativniki church in Tula just as it was about to host a large meeting of Baptists from the country and abroad. On September 14, an Initsiativniki church in Lyubuchany was burned down. This followed efforts by security agencies, including local police and FSB officers, to intimidate participants in an open air gathering for several thousand Initsiativniki from all over central Russia sponsored by the same church. The authorities have long been suspicious of the Initsiativniki, whose complete refusal of cooperation with the authorities led to their split in 1961 from the Union of Evangelical Christians Baptists.

A 1997 law on "Freedom of Conscience" regulates religious practice and limits the rights, activities, and status of religious "groups" existing in the country for less than 15 years and requires that religious groups exist for 15 years before they can qualify for "organization" status, which conveys juridical status. All religious organizations were required to register or reregister by the end of 2000 or face liquidation (deprivation of this status). The law placed a severe hardship on groups that had been unregistered previously, including groups new to the country. The Office of Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin includes a department dedicated to religious freedom issues. Lukin continued to criticize the law and to recommend changes to bring it into conformity with international standards and with the Constitution.

The MOJ reported that as of May 1, 21,664 organizations were registered. Isolated difficulties with registration continued to appear in different regions around the country. Local courts largely upheld the right of non traditional groups to register or reregister.

Nonetheless, a number of religious groups continued to battle administrative denials of registration in the courts, and while such cases were often successful, administrative authorities were at times unwilling to enforce court decisions. The Moscow authorities did not permit the Salvation Army to reregister, although the group continued to operate based on documents filed under an earlier statute. In April 2003, the Constitutional Court found unconstitutional a ruling of a Moscow region district court that had ordered the liquidation of the Salvation Army's organization in Moscow on the grounds that it was a "militarized organization." (A textbook on religious culture prepared for use in schools repeats this definition of the Salvation Army, which it calls a "sect.") A lawyer from the Slavic Center for Law and Justice was working with the Salvation Army at year's end to assist it in registering. The ECHR issued an interim ruling on June 24 declaring admissible the group's complaint arising out of the refusal of the Moscow authorities to reregister the group.

The Moscow branch of the Church of Scientology was not permitted by the Moscow authorities to reregister and continued to be threatened with liquidation. On October 28, the ECHR found admissible the Scientologist's complaint concerning the Government's failure to reregister the Church under the 1997 law.

As of the end of the year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints (Mormons) had succeeded in registering approximately 50 local religious organizations. The Church remained unable to register a local religious organization in Kazan, Tatarstan, which they had been attempting to do since 1998. In Chelyabinsk it successfully sued the Chelyabinsk Department of Justice, which had rejected 12 registration applications in 5 years. It won a subsequent appeal by the Chelyabinsk authorities, and its Chelyabinsk organization successfully registered on in September 2003.

Although many local Muslim religious organizations had been unable to reregister under the initial provisions of the 1997 law, spokespersons for the country's two most prominent muftis stated that most Muslim religious organizations that wanted to register were able to do so. As of May 1, there were 3,537 Muslim organizations registered with the Ministry of Justice, with 121 Muslim organizations registering within the last year. Disagreement between the heads of the country's two main Muslim spiritual boards continued although the Government largely supported the Moscow based Council of Muftis, led by Ravil Gaynutdin. Allegations persisted that Islamic extremism, popularly called "Wahabism," was to blame for terrorist attacks linked to the conflict in Chechnya and the North Caucasus.

There were no indications that the June 16 decision of the Moscow City Court resulting in the city wide banning of the Jehovah's Witnesses would be repealed. Unlike liquidation, which involves only the loss of an organization's juridical status, a ban prohibits the activities of an entire religious community. The ban has had far reaching consequences for the Witnesses in Moscow and elsewhere. Congregations of Witnesses had longstanding rental contracts for meeting rooms cancelled after the ban came in to effect, making it extremely difficult for the congregations to meet. An audio video production company that has worked with the Witnesses in the past refused to sign a contract to produce additional films, citing the court's decision. A court in Primorskiy Kray cited the Moscow ban in reversing a lower court's decision to award custody of a child to its mother, a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses. In Kurgan, the regional Ministry of the Interior requested that the city administration assist in filing an application to liquidate the local community of Jehovah's Witnesses. A city official asked the Witnesses to provide documents relevant to the Moscow court's decision.

In other instances, the Witnesses have succeeded in having liquidation orders issued by lower courts overturned on appeal. On October 25, the Supreme Court of Tatarstan overturned a September ruling by a court in Naberezhniye Chelnye liquidating the Witnesses' organization in that city. In November, the Primorskiy Kray Court overturned an October liquidation order issued by a lower court against the Witnesses organization in the city of Luchegorsk.

Although most of the difficulties faced by minority religious groups arose as the result of local factors, human rights groups and religious minority groups have criticized the federal Prosecutor General for encouraging legal action against some minority religions and for giving an imprimatur to materials that were biased against Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and others. There were continuing indications that the security services were treating the leadership of some minority religious groups, particularly Muslims and non traditional religions, as security threats. Officials have particularly focused on Islamic groups, such as Hizb ut Tahrir, and foreign Muslims living in the North Caucasus, as potentially linked to terrorist activity in the country.

The FSB, the Prosecutor General, and other official agencies have conducted campaigns of harassment against non traditional religious movements, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses. Churches faced investigations for alleged criminal activity and violations of the tax laws, landlords were pressured to renege on contracts, and in some cases the security services were thought to have influenced the MOJ to reject registration applications.

At the same time, federal authorities were more active during the year in preventing or reversing discriminatory actions taken at the local level, in disseminating information to the regions and, when necessary, reprimanding officials who acted inappropriately. According to one report, a new government publication on the rights of foreign religious workers was a valuable resource in resolving difficulties with local officials who were largely unfamiliar with the federal law. President Putin has sought stricter and more consistent application of federal laws throughout the country.

There appear to have been fewer reports than in previous years of restrictions placed on the missionary activities of Pentecostal believers by officials of the Khabarovsk administration's Department of Religion.

Representative offices of foreign religious organizations were required to register with state authorities. In practice, foreign religious representatives' offices have opened without registering or were accredited to an existing, registered, religious organization but were not permitted to conduct religious activities and did not have the status of a religious "organization."

Reregistration was not the only issue faced by minority religious groups. Some local and municipal governments prevented religious groups, including congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses, Protestants, Catholics, Mormons, and Hare Krishnas from using venues suitable for large gatherings and from acquiring property for religious uses. Regional and local authorities at times refused to lease facilities to local communities of Jehovah's Witnesses, particularly following the June ruling banning the group in Moscow. Religious assemblies held by Jehovah's Witnesses were disrupted in Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Vladimir, Khabarovsk, and Chelyabinsk during the year. The Witnesses were told in Vladimir that they could use a venue to meet as long as they had permission from a local Russian Orthodox priest. In Krasnoyarsk, the Jehovah's Witnesses community managed to rent facilities only with assistance of a local expert on religious issues. Jehovah's Witnesses also reported continuing difficulties obtaining construction permits. In Sosnovyy Bor, in the Leningrad Region, local authorities refused to let a Witnesses community use land to construct a prayer center. They based the refusal on the results of a March 14 referendum, by which 90 percent of the city inhabitants voted against the construction.

Muslims in Krasnodar continued unsuccessfully to seek authorization from the mayor's office to build a new mosque in the city of Sochi.

There were instances in which local officials detained individuals engaged in the public discussion of their religious views, but the individuals were released quickly.

The Government continued to deny particular foreign missionaries visas to return to the country, reportedly because of their earlier conflicts with authorities. During the year, some religious organizations, particularly Roman Catholics and Protestants, reported experiencing difficulties obtaining long term visas for their employees and missionaries. The Catholic Church reported, for example, that some of its clergy were only granted 3 or 6 month visas, although others were granted 1 year visas. The Mormons, in contrast, noted an improvement in their ability to secure visas for their foreign missionaries and reported that all of them received 1 year, multiple entry visas. The Mormons encountered some difficulties in securing residency permits for missionaries but noted the difficulties varied from region to region and did not constitute a systemic problem.

In June, officials in the Kursk region adopted a law restricting missionary activity, including the use of venues in which religious meetings could be held. A similar law was passed in Smolensk. The laws were based on a 2001 law that was adopted in neighboring Belgorod. Under these laws, foreigners visiting these regions are forbidden to engage in missionary activity or to preach unless specifically authorized according to their visas (some groups reportedly sent religious workers on business or tourist visas in order not to alert the authorities to their activities). However, according to local religious officials, the Belgorod, Smolensk, and Kursk laws were not enforced.

After denying at least three previous visa requests, the Government granted the Dalai Lama a visa, reportedly on the condition that his visit be limited to pastoral activities. From November 29 to December 1, the Dalai Lama visited Kalmykia, where he consecrated a Buddhist temple and led religious services.

The Federal Government backed away from previous plans to promote a compulsory nationwide course in schools on the "Foundations of Orthodox Culture," using a textbook by that title which detailed Orthodox Christianity's contribution to the country's culture. Although schools in over 20 regions still used the book, the Ministry of Education rejected funding for another edition and further circulation of the textbook. Many religious minorities had complained about negative language describing non Orthodox groups, particularly Jews. In September, Education Minister Andrey Fursenko announced plans for a new school course, taught by laypersons, entitled "History of Religion," which would teach the history of all religions, not only Orthodoxy. The authorities had not yet introduced the course nationwide or selected a textbook for it. However, Moscow city schools have introduced a course similar to the one that the Education Minister proposed.

Tensions continued between the ROC and the Vatican. The ROC often alleged that the Catholic Church deliberately sought to proselytize among ROC faithful, a charge that the Vatican denied.

The restitution of religious property seized by the Communist regime remained an issue. While authorities have returned many properties used for religious services, including churches, synagogues, and mosques, some in the Jewish community assert that only a small portion of the total properties confiscated under Soviet rule has been returned. The Jewish community was still seeking the return of a number of synagogues, religious scrolls, and cultural and religious artifacts, such as the Schneerson book collection, a revered collection of the Chabad Lubavitch.

Unlike in the previous reporting period, in which there were no functioning synagogues in Krasnodar Kray, a two room Jewish community center in Sochi was used as a synagogue. There were still no synagogues in Krasnodar city.

Many in the Jewish community continued to state that conditions for Jewish persons in the country had improved, primarily because there was no longer any official, "state sponsored," anti Semitism. At the federal level and in some regions, officials have shown an interest in hearing the concerns of the Jewish community. However, anti Semitic incidents against individuals and institutions continued, including attacks on individuals identifiable as Jews and attacks on Jewish property and cemeteries. Preliminary Anti Defamation League (ADL) statistics for the year indicated that, while the number of anti Semitic incidents remained roughly stable, the nature of the attacks had become more violent. There were no reports that the Government encouraged anti Semitic statements; leaders condemned them and even prosecuted some individuals for making them; however, many lower level officials continued to be reluctant to call such acts anything other than "hooliganism."

In April, Jewish youth leader Aleksandr Golynskiy was beaten near his home in Ulyanovsk and sent to the hospital. Two days later, extremists stormed the Ulyanovsk Jewish Center screaming, "don't pollute our land," smashing windows, and tearing down Jewish symbols as Jewish women and children hid inside. No one was injured, but police failed to respond quickly, arriving 40 minutes after they were called. A member of the extremist National Bolshevik Party was later arrested in connection with the attack. The investigation was ongoing at year's end. In Voronezh, on April 29, two young skinheads attacked Aleksey Kozlov outside the headquarters of the Inter Regional Human Rights Movement of which he is in charge. Kozlov is the regional monitor for an anti Semitism and racism project in Russia sponsored by the European Commission. Authorities detained the two teenagers but did not charge them; one was below the age of criminal responsibility, and the other allegedly shouted threats but did not use force. In December, two Jews were beaten in separate hate crimes in Moscow, one while riding a train and the other while walking on the street.

During the year, unknown persons vandalized synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, and memorials. Vandals desecrated tombstones in cemeteries dominated by religious and ethnic minorities in numerous cases. These attacks usually were accompanied by swastikas and other ultra nationalist symbols. Localities in which Jewish cemeteries were desecrated during the year included St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk, Pyatigorsk, Makhachkala, and Derbent. In February and December, Jewish tombs were desecrated with swastikas in one of the oldest cemeteries in St. Petersburg. On March 31, a Jewish cemetery was desecrated in Kaluga, and, after the local Jewish community chairman notified the governor about the incident, four teenagers and two adults suspected in the vandalism were detained. On November 25, a court sentenced three of the individuals, including one minor, to 2 years' probation. The other participants were too young to prosecute. In April, July, and August, unknown persons vandalized the Jewish cemetery in Petrozavodsk.

Anti Semitic rhetoric has been used by some members of the Rodina bloc, the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) in their public statements. Anti Semitic themes appeared in some local election campaigns.

Hundreds of extremist publications, including newspapers, were distributed throughout the country, sometimes containing anti Semitic, anti Muslim and xenophobic articles. Anti Semitic themes continued to figure in some local publications around the country, unchallenged by local authorities. In cases where Jewish or other public organizations attempted to take legal action against the publishers, the courts generally were unwilling to recognize the presence of anti Semitic content. Some NGOs claimed that many of these publications were owned or managed by the same local authorities who refused to prosecute.

While religious matters were not a source of societal hostility for most citizens, members of minority and "non traditional" religions continued to encounter prejudice, societal discrimination, and in some cases physical attacks. Authorities usually investigated incidents of religious vandalism and violence, but arrests of suspects were extremely infrequent, and convictions were rare. Relations between non traditional religious organizations and traditional ones frequently were tense, particularly at the leadership level.

The press reported that on August 7, a local Cossack group organized a protest against Mormon plans for the construction of a meetinghouse in Saratov city. Muslim and ROC leaders also spoke out against the construction.

Popular attitudes toward traditionally Muslim ethnic groups remained negative in many regions, and there were manifestations of anti Semitism as well as societal hostility toward Catholics and adherents of newer, non Orthodox, religions. Many observers reported that incidents of racially or ethnically motivated attacks increased significantly in recent years, although it was often difficult to determine whether xenophobia, religion, or ethnic prejudices were the primary motivation behind violent attacks. Conservative activists claiming ties to the ROC disseminated negative publications and staged demonstrations throughout the country against Catholics, Protestants, members of Jehovah's Witnesses, and religions new to the country, and some ROC leaders publicly expressed similar views.

Ethnic tensions ran high in the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus region and in major cities. Anti Chechen and anti "Wahabist" sentiment increased after each terrorist attack tied to Chechen rebels and spiked in some regions after the September seizure of a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, in which hundreds of persons, including many children, died at the hands of terrorists (see 1.g.). On September 18, between 20 and 50 "skinheads" beat and stabbed four persons from the Caucasus on the Moscow metro. The "skinheads" reportedly screamed, "this is for the terrorist acts," while attacking. A journalist for a respected national newspaper who witnessed the attack claimed that a skinhead "brigadier" ordered some of the attackers to seal the area and prevent male passengers from rescuing the victims.

Numerous press reports documented anti Islamic sentiment. Officials from a mosque in Bratsk, Irkutsk region, continued to complain of harassment and non responsiveness by local authorities to their reports of anti Muslim behavior. The Muslim community in Bratsk is large there are 18,000 Muslims in Bratsk out of a population of 450,000 and one mosque official stated that the local Muslim population was being blamed for problems in Chechnya. The Chairman of the Council of Muftis of Russia, Ravil Gaynutdin, head of the Central Spiritual Board of Russia's Muslims, Talgat Tadzhuddin, and head of the Coordinating Center of Muslims of the North Caucasus, Ismail Berdiyev, issued a joint statement denouncing terrorism. The leaders of the country's Muslims declared that it was necessary to resist extremists and terrorists who make use of religious slogans.

The number of underground nationalist extremist organizations (as distinguished from such quasi public groups as Russian National Unity) appeared to be growing. The continuing proliferation of skinhead groups was a phenomenon of particular concern. According to one human rights observer, there were approximately 50,000 skinheads in 85 cities, including 5,000 in Moscow. The rise of extremist youth organizations was also troubling. As of March, the MVD was aware of 453 extremist youth organizations in Russia, with membership totaling over 20,000 people. Most of the skinhead groups were in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Yaroslavl, and Voronezh. The region with the greatest number of extremist youth organizations was Tatarstan there were 108 known groups in the Republic compared with 62 in Moscow and Moscow region and 31 in St. Petersburg. Skinheads primarily targeted foreigners and individuals from the Northern Caucasus, but they also expressed anti Muslim and anti Semitic sentiments and hostility toward adherents of "foreign" religions.

The Constitution mandates the availability of alternative civilian service to those who refuse to bear arms for religious or other reasons of conscience. A law on alternative civil service took effect on January 1, and two supplements to the law were issued in March. The first supplement listed 722 organizations to which draftees may be assigned for the alternative service, and the second listed 283 activities that draftees were permitted to perform. On June 1, Prime Minister Fradkov signed regulations regarding the implementation of the law on alternative civilian service performance. Some human rights groups complained that the extended length of service for draftees requesting alternative assignments (1.75 times longer than regular military service) acted as a punishment for those who choose to exercise their religious or moral convictions.

The Jehovah's Witnesses organization reported that approximately 95 Witnesses had applied for alternative civilian service under the new legislation. As of mid December, 64 Witnesses had been recognized as conscientious objectors and deemed eligible for alternative civilian service. Approximately 30 Witnesses were denied alternative civilian service, in some cases because their applications were allegedly not filed in time. According to the Jehovah's Witnesses organization, at least six criminal cases were initiated during the year against members who claimed conscientious objector status: Three of defendants were acquitted and three received fines or suspended sentences.



Volume 7 Number 10 - Tuesday, March 8th, 2005	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY