On October 2, the Belarusian parliament adopted controversial amendments to the country's religion law that may provide a basis for asylum claims by Belarusian Christians here in the U.S.
The repressive law would outlaw unregistered religious activity, require compulsory prior censorship for all religious literature and ban foreign citizens from leading religious organisations. Publishing and teaching of religion would be restricted to faiths that have ten registered communities, including at least one that had registration in 1982. Plus, there would be a ban on all but occasional, small religious meetings in private homes. The bill was supported by President Aleksandr Lukashenko and is expected to sign it into law.
Article 16 of the new law provides: "Religious organisations are subject to compulsory state registration." Article 25 defines where religious events can take place, identifying places of worship and property belonging to them, other places "provided to religious organisations", places of pilgrimage, cemeteries and crematoria. "Religious rites, rituals and ceremonies may be held in homes of citizens in cases of necessity and at their request, under the condition of observing the rules of communal living and social order, as long as they are not of a mass and systematic nature," the article continues. Open air services can only be held with special permission from the local authorities. Services can only be held in prisons, hospitals and the army at the request of citizens in these institutions.
After it becomes law, all religious organizations in Belarus will then have to undergo compulsory re-registration over the next two years and bring their statutes into line with the new law. Many will likely find it difficult to register and their adherents will face fines or worse punishments if they practice their faith in the meantime.
The law is considered to be the most restrictive limitations on religious freedom in Europe. In recent years, the Belorusian government has continued to limit freedom of religion, particularly as it applies to Pentecostals and Baptists. Unwarranted threats and arrests of religious leaders are rampant. The government has also denied registration of Christian faiths it does not accept. This is substantiated in the reports from independent organizations such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Keston Institute of London, England and the International Christian Concern of Washington D.C. This documented history, based on the independent reports of private organizations, shows a long-term pattern of persecution of Christian religious leaders in Russia.
Because of this new repressive law, persons from Belarus who are Pentecostal Christians, Baptists and other non-Orthodox Christians may have a justifiable claim for asylum in the U.S.
Even the U.S. Congress has condemned the new law and recognized the persecution of Christians in Belorusia. This new condemnation, combined with the previous Lautenberg Amendment acknowledging the persecution of Christians in the former Soviet Union generally, may build a strong presumption that Pentecostal and Baptist Christians from Belarus can establish a risk of persecution on account of their religion.
If a person from Belarus can show he belongs to this class of individuals - the non-Orthodox Christian religious minority in Belarus- he may have a good case for asylum.
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