Registration transferred from interior ministry to courts - (04.07.2002)
Moscow Orthodox Church finally registered- (18.04.2002)
Registration transferred from interior ministry to courts
Keston News Service (04.07.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (08.07.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Under Estonia's new law on churches and congregations, responsibility for registering religious organisations has been transferred from the Interior Ministry's Department for Religious Affairs to the local courts.
Religious organisations have until 1 July 2004 to seek re-registration if they wish to retain legal status - which is not compulsory - the department's chief specialist told Keston News Service. It is unclear if the department will continue to exist after that date. The transfer has been welcomed by most religious groups.
"Registration was always a political issue," the general secretary of the Evangelical Alliance told Keston. "The courts are independent and disconnected from the government - this gives the Churches a more neutral position."
Source : http://www.keston.org/
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Moscow Orthodox Church finally registered
Keston News Service (18.04.2002)/HRWF International Secretariat (19.04.2002) C Websitehttp://www.hrwf.net - Estonia's Interior Ministry has finally registered the Estonian branch of the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), ending a legal wrangle that has blighted relations between the Tallinn and Moscow governments since 1993. The head of the department for religious affairs at the Interior Ministry told Keston News Service today (18 April) that his ministry had registered the statute of the Estonian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate the previous day, together with those of three of its parishes, and that Church representatives had collected the registration certificates today. Although the question of property remains unresolved, the Church will now be able to carry out functions previously denied to it.
Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org
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