freezing temperatures as they were "violently evicted" by Russian forces from their building one day before Western Christmas, reports said Monday, January 5.
Just before New Year, December 29, security guards allowed them back into the church, but only after they held Christmas and Sunday services on the streets of cold Moscow, said the Forum 18 News Service (F18News).
The family of Pastor Kim-Jun-Kyu, including two young children, and other church officials were in distress following the incident on December 23 when guards threw them "onto the cold street at 7 am without time to dress," F18News said.
Their return to the church does not mean that anything has "changed legally," but they are now "at least able to await a court verdict in the warm," the Russian United Methodist Church said.
The future of the four floors Korean Kwan Lim ("Burning Bush") Methodist Church remains unclear as Russian authorities allegedly agreed to transfer its ownership to a shaky company, without the church’s knowledge.
FRAUDULENT DOCUMENTS
Church officials have accused the Moscow Justice Department of accepting fraudulent documents issued with a false stamp to create a "Kwan Lim" company, amid concern about wide spread corruption in the Russian capital. Justice officials have denied any wrongdoing.
Yet buildings of other organizations, including human rights groups such as the Soros Foundation, also lost properties earlier in 2003, often to gangs involved in shadow business deals backed by officials, according to human rights reports monitored by BosNewsLife.
The Kwan Lim (Kvanrim in Russian) United Methodist Church was founded and registered in 1991 and gained re-registration with the Moscow Justice Department in December 1999.
SOUTH KOREA
It has has some 180 members and built its own church in northern Moscow in 1995 with financial support from Methodists in South Korea. Services are held in Russian and Korean.
Kwan Lim’s administrator Svetlana Kim said local police have decided to allow both claimants access to the building, estimated at over three million U.S. dollars, until the issue of ownership is resolved by the courts.
A date for the first hearing of a suit filed against the Moscow Justice Department by the church in September last year should be set soon after January 7, F18News quoted Kim as saying.
CONCERN
Church groups have expressed concern that the recent election victory of President Vladimir Putin’s allies will lead to dictatorship and more pressure on non Orthodox Christians and missions, including the Korean Methodist Church.
Pastor Mikhail Kuznetsov, of the Moscow Interconfessional Pastors’ Council, told F18News that "the violence" against the congregation was also accompanied "by nationalistic expressions and crude insults" towards the Protestants.
He organized a special night of prayer for the church from January 2 to January 3, F18News reported.
Amid some signs of hope, Korean and Russian children as well as their parents were were seen enjoying a puppet show of the Nativity in the church building, at a time when Russia prepares for its (Orthodox) Christmas, starting late Tuesday, January 6.
