Monitoring the persecution of Christians in Belarus in October 2023 (media overview)

One of the tools of the Lukashenko regime to control civil society and the media space is to declare organizations, individuals, independent media, websites, Telegram channels, social networks, as well as symbols that are in one way or another related to peaceful protest or the democratic movement as “extremist organizations”, “extremist materials” or “extremists”. As a result, the administrative charge includes Art. Section 19.11 of the Code of Administrative Offenses, persons who send information from these information sources or information containing the logos of these information sources, or those who have joined these information sources.

Websites, channels and social networks of Belarusian religious figures and communities have been systematically declared extremist materials. Religious figures are also persecuted for sending materials and ordering “extremist resources”.

In October 2023, the Telegram channel of the Belarusian Orthodox Church of Vilnius, under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, was put on the list of “extremist materials”. In October 20 – the Baranovichi district and city court decided to recognize this channel as extreme. For a full list of religious figures, groups and their media sources accused of extremism by the authorities, see Christian Vision’s monitoring.

There were also three cases where religious activists were persecuted for sending “extremist materials” and ordering “extremist resources.”

On October 4, the trial of the Orthodox priest Andrei Nozdrin from Grodno took place. The priest was detained some time before that, his phone and social networks were checked, and it was found that he is a follower of Grodno journalist Ruslan Kulevitch on Instagram, whose social networks were recognized as extremist materials in January 2023. On this occasion, an administrative proceeding was initiated against the priest: a protocol was drawn up and a court hearing was scheduled, on the basis of Code of Administrative Offenses, art. 11.19. (dissemination of extremist materials) judge Elena Tolstik-Samoilo decided to impose an administrative penalty on the priest: a fine of 15 basic units (555 rubles or about 160 euros). A “crime weapon” – a mobile phone – was also confiscated.

Another persecuted religious figure was a Catholic priest – Father Nikolai Lipsky, Igumen of the St. Mary Magdalene parish in Novolukol (Chashnik district, Vitebsk region). His mobile phone was checked, protocols were drawn up in accordance with Art. of the Code of Administrative Offenses. 24.23 under Part 1 on unauthorized picketing and Article 19.11 Part 2 on the distribution of “extremist” material on social networks. He spent two days in solitary confinement. On October 27, 2023, Chashniksk district judge A. S. Smirnova fined the priest 50 units (1,850 rubles or 530 euros) and ordered the confiscation of his phone.

On the basis of the same article, a protocol was drawn up against Boriss Lapšin, a Protestant pastor of the Evangelical Christian Church “Grace of Christ” in Begomli (Dokshitsy district, Vitebsk region). On October 22, 2023, Sunday, he was invited to the internal affairs department of Lepel district for an interview. They checked his mobile phone and found a post on Facebook that was considered to be spreading extremist material (Article 19.11 Part 2 of the Administrative Code). On Monday, October 23, 2023, the trial took place, the pastor was ordered to be detained for 10 days.

The following day, the Evangelical Christian Igor Badiai, operator of the pumping station, was also tried in the same Lepel court for “spreading extremism”, Vitebsk human rights Telegram channel reported. It is possible that his administrative detention was connected with the detention of pastor Boriss Lapšin. The name of the believer appeared in the schedule of the Lepel district court on October 24, he was to be judged by judge Natalja Suško, but the results of the trial are still unknown.

Persecution for religious activities on October 2, 2023 it became known that Nikolai Bondar, an activist of the Orthodox Church, who helped build the Church of Prophet Elijah in the village of Bešenkovič and was the organizer of the anti-NATO crusade, was appointed on October 2, 2023. administrative penalty in the form of a fine. The anti-NATO religious procession took place from June 18 to July 21, 2023 along the border of Belarus and the European Union. One day, a group of ten people walked in a procession along a country road in Shchuchinsky District, Grodno Region, this procession was agreed upon by the order of the Executive Committee of Grodno Region dated June 28, 2023. As revealed by the decision of the Beshenkovich District Court (where Bondar resides) dated September 15, 2023, Bondar was fined 20 basic units (740 rubles or 210 euros) for this procession. Perhaps the participants violated the procession route.

On October 11, 2023, a “penitent video” with Ekaterina Shapovalova, an employee of the Belarusian State Philharmonic, was shown as “repentance video” on channels linked to the security forces, from which it became known that she was detained for singing the hymn “Most High God” on the steps of the Philharmonic as part of the choir in 2020. Propaganda resources claimed that a criminal case has been registered against the woman. At the moment, human rights activists have no further information about the future fate of Yekaterina Shapovalova.

Violation of the right to freedom of religion in relation to political prisoners

Nikita Yemelyanov, a political prisoner who has been in prison since 2019, was sentenced to 4 years in prison because he threw an ink can into the building of the Minsk City Court and tried to set fire to the doors of the Volodarsk pre-trial prison. In 2022, his term was extended by 2 years on the basis of Article 411 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (“malicious disobedience to the requirements of the administration of a correctional institution”). He is a practicing Catholic but has problems with pastoral visitation. In October 2023, it became known that he was once again facing the issue of pastoral visitation.

The group Christian Vision published a monitoring of violations of the rights of political prisoners.

Liquidation of HPE “New Life” congregation

On October 17, 2023, the Minsk City Court held a hearing on the liquidation of the Full Gospel Christian religious congregation, the “New Life” Church. The lawsuit against the church was prepared by Yekaterina Kaverina, deputy head of the ideological work, religious and national affairs coordination department of the executive committee of the city of Minsk. The meeting was originally scheduled for October 6, but was postponed to a later date. The court decided that the church should be liquidated, the judgment was to take effect fifteen days after it was passed, but the congregation decided to appeal it.

Evangelical Christian SergeyMelyanets was able to attend the trial of the liquidation of the New Life Church and shared his impressions on Facebook.

This judgment put an end to the confrontation between the religious community and the authorities that had developed since the mid-2000s. The first phase of the confrontation concerned the address Kovaleva 72, in Minsk. The regime has repeatedly refused to change the building’s legal definition to a religious building. The church went on several hunger strikes to protect its congregation. Authorities eventually confiscated the building in February 2021 and demolished it in June 2023.

In the context of the development of the political crisis since 2020, when the church condemned the violence, the community has faced a new wave of repression. In September 2022, the police forbade New Life Church to hold services in the parking lot of the church building. Vyacheslav Goncharenko, the church minister, and Anton Bokun, another pastor who participated in the service, were arrested for holding religious services, and both were fined.

In August 2023, pastor Vyacheslav Goncharenko and youth pastor Ilya Budai were arrested and detained for 10 and 5 days, respectively. In August, the church’s website and social networks were declared as “extremist”.

New repressive law on religious organizations

On October 11, 2023. a new repressive law on freedom of conscience and religious organizations was passed in the first reading in the House of Representatives of the National Assembly, which entered the parliament on September 29. The bill continues the repressive policy towards religious activity – it secures the illegal status of any religious activity outside the framework of registered religious organizations and also requires the re-registration of existing religious organizations.

Pressure on religious organizations

At the beginning of October 2023, two icons of the new martyrs disappeared from Grodno Cathedral – the holy martyrs Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev (martyred in 1918) and Metropolitan Veniamin of Petrograd (executed in 1922). These icons were placed in Grodno’s Intercession Cathedral as part of a composition of 8 icons depicting saints at the moment of their martyrdom for Christ and their executioners – Red Army soldiers, security officers, NKVD officers dressed in recognizable uniforms. Propaganda channels claimed that this was allegedly because the icons depicted scenes of violence. In its October 11 response, the Diocese of Grodno responded to a request by Dmitri Korneenko of the Christian Vision group that the icons were temporarily removed due to repairs. However, the group “Christian Vision” learned that not only the two mentioned icons will not return to their place, but also the remaining six icons from this series will be removed from the church for unclear reasons.

Since the mid-2000s, these icons have irritated local authorities and anti-church activists, the most vocal of whom was the “information Cossack” Olga Bondareva. They demanded that Archbishop Artemy (Kishchenko) remove these icons, but he did not submit to this pressure, for him the protection of icons was a matter for Christians.

Church and political crisis in Belarus

Source: Мониторинг преследований христиан в Беларуси за октябрь 2023 года (обзор СМИ) | Новости inVictory