Meetings of unregistered Evangelical Baptists prohibited

HRWF Int. (22.12.2003) / Email info@hrwf.net - Website http://www.hrwf.net - On 9 July 2003, the members of the unregistered Evangelical Baptist Christian congregations of Ushgorod and Mukatshevo erected an evangelism tent in the village of Bilasovitsa and invited the public to their religious services. On the next day, the director of the local administration and the Orthodox priest threatened them of arresting them, destroyed their tent and ordered them to leave their village. They however persisted in holding their religious services, but in the open air. Similar events happened in Latirka.

In Krynki (West Ukraine), the Soviet of the village decided to close the place of worship of the Evangelical Christian congregation and to forbid any meeting their registration.

Human Rights Without Frontiers Int. urges the Ukrainian authorities

- to make sure the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights regarding freedom of religion and belief are respected all over their territory and to prosecute those who advocate or commit acts of violence against the legitimate and legal exercise of religious freedom by minority groups;

- to authorize peaceful religious meetings, whether the religious group is registered or not;

-to take in consideration the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, particularly about the freedom of propagating ones faith (Kokkinakis case) and the freedom of religious assembly (Manoussakis case).