Minsk authorities refuse to talk with representatives of "New Life"
"New Life" church. photo by newlife.by
The negotiations about a meeting at the
Minsk City Executive Committee have lasted since the end of November
when the church lawyer Siarhei Lukanin talked about it with the
deputy head of the reception department.
The church representatives want the
authorities to abolish its decision of 2005 according to which the
religious community was deprived of its plot of land. According to
the preliminary agreement, the meeting was to have taken place in
January, but the deputy head of the reception department phoned to
tell that it was impossible.
"Pitifully enough, they
refused to meet saying that the issues we intended to discuss is
beyond the powers of the head of the Minsk City Executive Committee.
It was very strange for us, because the only issue we wanted to
discuss was the abolishment of the ruling of the Minsk CEC of 2005
with which the judicial persecution of our church started. However,
according to her, that's how Ladutska's aide told her to answer, "no
comments"."
The believers still gather in their
temple which they constructed from a cowshed. Mr. Lukanin points that
neither the land nor the temple belong to the church any longer,
that's why the authorities can continue the pressurization on the
religious community any time.
