Court Suspends Case of New Life Protestant Church for Unknown Time

According to Charter’97

On 5April New Life Church received the ruling of the Supreme Court to suspend the case concerning the legality of the decision of Minsk city executive committee to deprive the church of its piece of land and former cowshed that was reconstructed to a preaching-house.

˜… the case must be suspended in connection with filing an inquiry with a competent organ, till the court receives an answer from the competent organ…’, reads the text of the ruling.

˜It is quite surprising that 2 weeks have already passed after the judge decided to file an inquiry, but the court still can’t determine the ˜competent’ organ to apply to’, commented the church’s lawyer Uladzimir Lukanin.

The trial continues for 5 months already. The court has already listened to the opinions of the competent state organs: State Committee on Property, Committee on Land Management, Committee on Architecture and City Planning, the department of the State Control Committee on the control of the use of soil and geodesic supervision, the department on religious and national affairs of Minsk city executive committee, and Minharmaiomasts (Minsk city property) fund.

˜The court evidently protracts the time because it can’t issue a lawful decision’, Siarhei Lukanin stated.