faith news:Baptist leaders fined for street evangelism in Russia

Baptist leaders fined for street evangelism in Russia

by Gretta Curtis, Christian Post
Posted: Thursday, October 8, 2009, 8:56 (BST)

Norway-based Forum 18 News service reported that the two preachers - Mikhail Alentyev and Aleksandr Legotin were fined on 25 September by magistrate at Gusev Municipal court for holding a public demonstration.

Legotin insisted that because the Baptists had held a religious service and not a demonstration, the legal requirement to notify the authorities in advance should not have applied. “We follow the law very carefully,” he told Forum 18.

“And under the Universal Declaration [of Human Rights] we have the right to freedom of conscience – the law should be doing the opposite, protecting us from such arbitrariness,” he said.

All public gatherings – whether political or religious – must be sanctioned by the municipal authorities in advance, a Kaliningrad police source speaking on condition of anonymity told Forum 18 on 1 October.

“But they didn't have permission and they had no intention of getting it!” he remarked, clearly irritated by the Baptists' actions, while admitting they had not disturbed public order.

Asked why permission is necessary, the source replied, “That's the law in Russia!” and pointed to Article 20.2 of the Administrative Violations Code. Forum 18 said the policeman declined to comment further.

Mr Alentyev commented to Forum 18 that his 30-strong Gusev congregation “knows from experience” that the local authorities will block its public evangelism even if they do submit advance notification.

The community belongs to the Baptist Council of Churches, which broke away from the Soviet-recognised Baptist Union in 1961 in protest at regulations preventing missionary activity and religious instruction to children. Its communities refuse on principle to register with the authorities in post-Soviet countries.

As the Gusev Baptists preached, sang, played musical instruments and handed out gospels in the town's centre during their end of August evangelism week, they were disrupted by police four times.

"They said, 'What right do you have to do this? Permission? No? Then down to the police station!'" recalled Alentyev, who was detained there for an hour on 3 September.