NEWS STORY: Russian Religion Law Deadline Extended

c. 2000 Religion News Service MOSCOW _ Thousands of religious organizations faced with possible “liquidation” under a controversial religion law now have until the end of the year to re-register with Russia’s Justice Ministry. The one-year extension of the Dec. 31 1999, deadline became law March 30 after easily clearing both houses of Russia’s parliament […]

c. 2000 Religion News Service

MOSCOW _ Thousands of religious organizations faced with possible “liquidation” under a controversial religion law now have until the end of the year to re-register with Russia’s Justice Ministry.

The one-year extension of the Dec. 31 1999, deadline became law March 30 after easily clearing both houses of Russia’s parliament and being signed by President-elect Vladimir Putin, the former spy chief whose views on religious freedom issues are largely unknown.


Religious leaders cautioned against interpreting the move as an early indication of religious toleration by Putin, himself baptized as a child into the dominant, 80-million member Russian Orthodox Church.

“I think it was just something he had to do, a necessity. The majority of those not yet registered were Orthodox and Muslim groups,” said Igor Nikitin, head of the Association of Christian Churches in Russia, which represents about 200 Protestant congregations ranging from Presbyterians to Pentecostals.

Alexander Kudryavtsev, head of the Justice Ministry’s department of registration of religious organizations, confirmed Nikitin’s observation. He said that 7,000 religious groups made the original deadline, estimating that number represented 60 percent of those required to re-register or face court liquidation.

Kudryavtsev said Protestants, a distinct minority in Russia, were faring well.

“The Protestant groups have gone through a little faster because they are working more actively, are more apt to use lawyers and fill out the forms more accurately,” Kudryavtsev said.

Roman Catholic and Jewish groups, which together represent no more than 2 million of Russia’s 146 million population, have won re-registration for the majority of their communities. Chabad Lubavitch Rabbi Berl Lazar, who heads the association representing scores of Hasidic-tied communities in Russia, said the vast majority of Lubavitch organizations made the first deadline.

At least one religious freedom advocate, the Rev. Gleb Yakunin, an Orthodox priest and former parliamentarian, complained that the deadline should have been extended even longer. Kudryavtsev said that was not a workable option.

“It is part of the Russian mentality to wait to the last day,” Kudryavtsev said with a laugh. “So, if we extended the deadline for three years, everybody would wait until the last minute and we would all just be sitting around here for three years in the ministry waiting for them to bring us their papers.”


Aside from extending the deadline, the legislation signed by Putin also

includes harsher language requiring local officials to liquidate those

religious organizations that do not register in time.

The previous wording was softer but all the same resulted in action in at least one Russian province against those who missed the Dec. 31, 1999 deadline. In Russia’s southern region of Voronezh, local Justice Ministry officials began court proceedings seeking to close 13 Jewish and Christian communities. With the extension, they have won a reprieve.

Kudryavtsev downplayed the new, tougher wording, saying that local courts would be able to use their discretion when deciding how to deal with religious groups that missed the new deadline. The problem, critics say, is that local judiciaries and officials are often under considerable pressure to abide by the wishes of the politically powerful Russian Orthodox Church.

In the western Russian city of Belgorod, one Roman Catholic priest says his bid for re-registration has been thwarted by the local Orthodox prelate.

The Rev. Krzysztof Kempa, a Polish citizen, said in an interview Wednesday (April 5) that he had just received the latest rejection from local Justice Ministry officials. He was perplexed.

“I’m not sure on what basis they are denying me as a foreigner. All the documents are in order,” the priest said. “All over Russia, our (foreign) priests have had no problems.”

Kempa said the real reason for the problem in Belgorod is that Russian Orthodox Archbishop Ioann is pressuring Justice Ministry officials to withhold registration. The Orthodox worry that a registered Catholic parish would be in a much better position to reclaim the former Catholic church building currently being used by the Orthodox as a museum.


“They keep asking me at the Justice Ministry office, `If you get registered will you want that church back?” he said.

The 19th-century, neo-Gothic structure once functioned as the Roman Catholic Church of Saints Peter and Paul until it was closed in the 1930’s by Communist authorities, Kempa said.

A spokeswoman for Archbishop Ioann’s office who would identify herself only as Nina said of the former Catholic church, “It was abandoned for many years. It wasn’t anyone’s. … So, we made a museum out of it.”

She said she was very “doubtful” Ioann would make any efforts to thwart the registration of the Catholic parish.

Kempa said he would claim the former Catholic church building for a parish that currently consists of about 15 people who attend Mass in a parishioner’s apartment. He predicted his parish would grow quickly in Belgorod, a city of 350,000, once registration was achieved and a proper meeting space rented.

Under Russian law, registration is necessary for religious groups to function as legal entities with the right to enter into contracts, open bank accounts and hire employees.


Nikitin, of the Association of Christian Churches in Russia, estimated that a sizeable number of the groups he represents would opt not to get entangled with the government at all.

“It can get quite expensive,” said Nikitin, referring to Russian bureaucrats’ legendary appetite for paper. “You must report to the tax inspectorate once a month, for example. And, even if you don’t owe any tax, you still need to hire an accountant just to fill in all the forms properly.

For some of the smaller groups, this is just too much expense.”

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

Like Nikitin, Yakunin sees little reason to interpret Putin’s approval of the deadline extension as a positive sign. Far more significant, Yakunin said, would be the way Putin handles his inauguration as Russia’s second president set for May 7.

“It will be very interesting to see if the Patriarch (Alexii II) is at the inauguration. He has no such role in the Constitution,” said Yakunin, an outspoken Orthodox priest imprisoned in Soviet times and later anathematized by the hierarchy of the Russian Orthodox Church which he relentlessly criticizes for its cooperation with the KGB.

Yakunin said Wednesday he was in the process of writing a letter to Putin, a former KGB colonel, warning the president-elect not to include the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church in the inauguration ceremony.

DEA END BROWN

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