Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said the document will be presented next week, May 27, to the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering. Another petition urges the European Union to tacle reported massive religious freedom violations in Belarus, which Washington has called Europe’s "last outpost of tyranny." It will be submitted to the European Parlimanent by Roger Kiska, Legal Counsel of the European Center for Law and Justice, a major umbrella group of Christian lawyers, CSW said.
Under Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko, dissidents and Christians have been singled out for harsh treatment, according to diplomats and human rights investigators.
The government continues "to restrict religious freedom," according to Open Doors, an international group supporting Christians allegedly persecuted for their faith. In 2007, "More Christians were arrested and interrogated, more were harassed, and more church meetings were disrupted," than in previous, concluded Open Doors in a recent report seen by BosNewsLife.
FOREIGN MISSIONARIES
In addition, foreign missionaries, clergy, and humanitarian" workers affiliated with churches have faced government-imposed obstacles, including deportation and visa refusal or cancellation of residence permits, BosNewsLife monitored. It suggested that Protestant Christians are high on the government’s black list.
"Though the country officially has no state religion, the Belarusian Orthodox Church has a privileged position [while] Protestants [such as] Lutheran, Reformed, Evangelical and Baptist [Christians] attracted negative attention." Open Doors claimed that believers have been accused of being supported by the United States.
“Numerous attacks on religious monuments, buildings, and cemeteries have occurred with little discernable response from the government. Authorities have kept many religious communities waiting as long as several years for decisions about property registration or restitution,” the group said.
OPPOSITION DETAINED
Elsewhere, opposition figures have reportedly been subjected to harsh penalties for organising protests. However, reporting on the country’s situation is difficult. The Committee to Protect Journalists has described Belarus as one of the 10 "worst places to be a journalist".
CSW’s National Director Stuart Windsor told BosNewsLife in a statement that, “Sadly, little appears to have changed in Belarus in relation to religious freedom since the days of the Soviet Union.”
He said however that is group is “inspired by this initiative by Belarusian Christians, who have come together across denominational lines to demand that their right to worship freely be respected.” He said UK-based CSW has urged the EU "to respond to their call with decisive action, and ask that the Union makes religious freedom in Belarus a priority in their relations with that country."
