English
Forum 18. BELARUS: Bulldozers destroy Minsk church
22 June 2023Olga Glace, Forum 18 Evicted from its church building in February 2021, banned from meeting for worship in the church car park, Minsk’s New Life Pentecostal Church has now seen its church bulldozed. The bulldozing – ordered by Capital Construction Management Company, owned by Minsk City Executive Committee – began on 20 June, […]
Forum 18. BELARUS: Draft Religion Law “playing on formal appearance of legality”
15 June 2023Felix Corley, Forum 18, and Olga Glace, Forum 18 The regime has published the text of a restrictive draft new Religion Law, due to be discussed by the non-freely elected Parliament in September, which it falsely claims “does not affect” international human rights obligations. Exiled human rights defender and Orthodox priest Fr Aleksandr […]
Forum 18. BELARUS: Detained, fined for sharing faith on streets
12 June 2023 Olga Glace, Forum 18, and Felix Corley, Forum 18 On 2 June, a judge fined Vladimir Burshtyn – who is in his 70s – over a month’s average pension for an outdoor meeting in Drogichin with fellow Baptists to share their faith. He has appealed against the fine, imposed in a court […]
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya’s keynote address at the CEC General Assembly
Tallinn, June 15, 2023 Dear President Karis,Dear Reverend KriegerYour Eminence archbishop Nikitas,Dear Prof. Slotte,Dear Dr. Sørensen,Esteemed delegates and participants of the General Assembly, On February 24, 2022, we all woke up in a nightmare: the Russian Federation launched a full-scale aggression against the Ukrainian nation, bombarding and invading them also from the territory of Belarus. […]
Rev. Uladzimir Drabysheuski. Situation of the Orthodox Church in Belarus in 2020-2023. A story of personal persecution
Life and Faith Under Oppression: Voices from Political Prisoners and the Persecuted Belarusian Christian Communities. Brussels, European Parliament, 31.05.2023. Greetings to all participants! I am Uladzimir Aliakseiavich Drabysheusky. I was born and lived in Gomel, Belarus. I am married and have six children. I have been an Orthodox priest for 23 years. Now I am […]
Natallia Harkovich. Belarusian Peaceful Protests of Christians in 2020-2021
Life and Faith Under Oppression: Voices from Political Prisoners and the Persecuted Belarusian Christian Communities. Brussels, European Parliament, 31.05.2023.Natallia Garkovich, PHD in history, theologist, member of the Christian Vision group. Since 2020, we have witnessed diverse expressions of peaceful protest against deceit and violence. They have been taking place at all levels of Christian organizations […]
Ihar Ivanou. Christian Vision: Monitoring of violations of the rights of citizens and religious communities and associations
Ihar Ivanou, publisher, member of “Christian vision” working group. Life and Faith Under Oppression: Voices from Political Prisoners and the Persecuted Belarusian Christian Communities. Brussels, European Parliament, 31.05.2023. When the Christian Vision group announced about its existence on 9 September 2020, a month after the presidential elections in Belarus that provoked mass protests and resistance […]
