Photo via orangesmile.com

Hard pressure on Christians in Belarus continues

Pavel Nozdrya, a member of the charismatic Jesus Christ Church in the southern city of Mozyr who helped gather signatures on a religious freedom petition, says he lost his job as an electrician at the local university in mid-March, reports Geraldine Fagan, Forum 18 News Service. He was one of seven members of a church youth group meeting in a private house on 29 February which was raided by local ideology officials.

A police officer who visited the same house on Sunday 9 March said he was responding to a warning that a human sacrifice would take place there. Nozdrya attributes the harassment to the church's involvement in the mass petition to amend the restrictive 2002 Religion Law, which was handed to the authorities in late February.

Government bodies rejected the petition in late March, claiming that reports of religious freedom violations "do not correspond with reality". Pavel Severinets, an Orthodox Christian involved in the campaign, and members of the Minsk-based charismatic New Life church face prosecution.

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[04/04/2008]

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