the former Soviet Republic. A Minsk court on Friday, April 28, sentenced Zmicer Dashkevich, head of the youth organization Malady Front, to 15 days in jail for taking part in what it called "an unauthorized demonstration." A day earlier opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich and three of his deputies were handed similar sentences, news reports said.
It after a network of Christians in Europe expressed "grave concern" at the recent arrest and imprisonment of two Christian leaders in separate cases during March 2006.
The European Religious Liberty Forum, made up of lawyers, journalists and human rights activists from across Europe condemned the arrests and sentencing to 10 days imprisonment of Baptist Pastor Georgi Vladimirovich Vyazovsky and of Sergey Shavtsov, a human rights lawyer, in separate cases in Minsk last month.
PASTOR JAILED
Pastor Vyazovsky was charged with holding regular religious meetings in his private home without permission from the local authorities. Local police officials arrived unannounced to one such gathering, which had attracted about 30 people, investigators said. Christian rights groups claim however that no public orders had been violated
and no complaints were received.
Sergey Shavtsov, a human rights lawyer, was arrested on 24 March 2006 and jailed for organizing a religious event, an interdenominational conference, without government permission. On the last day of the conference three policemen and one KGB officer reportedly raided the conference saying the event "was an offence" under Belarusian legislation.
Other church leaders have also reported actions against as authorities apparently fear that growing evangelical congregations will undermine the president’s powerbase and his ties with the ‘official’ Orthodox Church of Belarus.
BELIEVERS PERSECUTED
Russian Ministries, one of the largest evangelical mission groups in the former Soviet Union, said this month it has become "obvious to the Christian community that believers in Belarus are being persecuted for the cause of Christ."
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was sworn in for a third term earlier this month following disputed elections amid fears among Evangelical Christians over a crackdown against them as they are seen by authorities as pro-Western and anti-Orthodox.
Lukashenko, described by the United States as "Europe’s last dictator" has been under international pressure to allow more political and religious freedoms. But Belarusian authorities have denied wrongdoing and say the recent ballot was free and fair.
GAS ROW
While Moscow has backed president Lukashenko’s re-election, it is currently pressuring Belarus to increase what it pays Russia for natural gas by threefold. Cheap Russian gas is a key to the economic growth that is one of authoritarian President Lukashenko’s policy objectives. Analysts say a sharp increase in prices could further undermine support for him.
This week opposition supporters on Wednesday, April 26, marked the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear accident saying Lukashenko’s government is lying about how it is coping with the disaster’s consequences.
Western countries on Thursday condemned the jailing of Milinkevich which followed the rally. In published remarks US State Department spokesman Adam Ereli called it "outrageous and reprehensible." (With reports from Belarus and BosNewsLife Research).
