Confrontation between Pentecostals and police in Moscow

Portal-Credo.ru reports that on May 30, the metropolitan police dispersed the picket of the Moscow Central Church of Evangelical Pentecostal Christians "Emmanuel". It was another protest action of believers against the actions of officials, about which, by the way, the authorities were notified in advance. A total of 10 people were detained.

“People, mostly of advanced age, were seized with obscene language, wringing their hands, throwing them to the ground, dragging them to a police car,” the portal says. “All this was done without any explanation. Major A.P. Krylov took responsibility for the incident .

On the way to the department, police officers threatened the senior pastor and members of the church with reprisals, cursed with foul language, and inflicted bodily harm. Currently, all 10 members of the "Emmanuel" church, including those who were detained earlier, are in the "Tverskoye" department of internal affairs.

Only after the attack and arrest had taken place did the policemen begin to investigate the circumstances. As a result of clarification of the circumstances, it turned out that the picket was held on legal grounds, and the clash occurred due to the improper performance of his duties by the deputy prefect of the Central Administrative District Vasyukov, who, in the prescribed manner, did not inform the leadership of the Emmanuel Church about the ban on holding the picket.

Meanwhile, " the version of the capital's police department presented by Interfax is somewhat different: "...the rally was allowed to be held in Novopushkinsky Square, but at the last moment its organizers decided to stand in front of the mayor's office, which forced the policemen to stop the picket.

On the same day, ROSHVE made an urgent statement about the incident. "The Russian United Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals) considers these actions of law enforcement agencies a flagrant lawlessness in relation to Christians, to the citizens of Russia, and possibly a provocation aimed at aggravating the religious situation in the country, rocking state-religious relations," the statement says. .

On May 31 the picket was continued. The police and riot police did not try to disperse the protesters.

On the same day, the senior pastor of the "Emmanuel" church, Alexander Porshaga, who was detained the day before, met with the deputy prefect of the Central Administrative District of Moscow, S.A. Vasyukov. During the conversation, S.A. Vasyukov acknowledged that the Pentecostals held the rally in accordance with the law, and called the actions of the prefecture, which did not respond in time to the Pentecostals' statement about the place and time of the rally, called it "an oversight."

The deputy prefect, however, refused to take action against those who made a mistake. In this regard, the press secretary of the Emmanuel Church, Yuri Popov, suggested that the prefecture's employees had committed a "deliberate provocation."

On June 1, the senior pastor of the Moscow Central Church "Emmanuel" Alexander Purshaga, contrary to the assurances of the authorities, ended up in the Tverskoye police station. The police continued to disperse the rally. Children and women were thrown to the ground with obscene language and threats and banners were taken away. The believers who arrived from St. Petersburg were detained and also sent to the police station.

By evening, four of the 13 detainees were released. The parishioners, who had gathered at the police station and demanded the release of the rest of the detainees, were threatened by the Tverskoye Department of Internal Affairs to take the women away, and then the children (from 4 to 12 years old) would go home on their own.

Yelena Polyakova, an employee of the prefecture of the Central Administrative District of Moscow, said that representatives of the Emmanuil Church "did not come and did not receive official notification that the picket location was being moved," although they were warned that they should have done so. The press secretary of the church, Yury Popov, denied the words of the prefecture's employee, saying that he had not received any notifications about the transfer of the picket site.

By 19 o'clock on June 1, all the detainees - despite the threats of the police - were released home. On June 2, at 11 am, the picket resumed on the square in front of the Moscow Mayor's Office.

On June 2, at 11 am, the picket resumed on the square in front of the Moscow Mayor's Office. However, this time too, the police - after the believers were asked to disperse within a minute, to which they did not react - forced the picketers to stop the action. Senior Pastor A.A. Purshaga, Church Administrator B.G. Azaryan and the press secretary of the Church Yu.N. Popov was detained again. "When asked about the reason for what was happening, the press secretary of the Emmanuel Church was told that violations had been committed, but they did not explain what," Portal-Credo.ru reports .

In addition, three pastors from the suburbs of St. Petersburg were detained: the pastor of the "News of Hope" church from Zelenogorsk, I.Yu. Astapov, pastor of the church from the city of Krasnoarmeysk A.A. Munilkin and the pastor of the church from Pushkin, as well as five parishioners of the Emmanuel church. At the same time, as Portal-Credo.ru notes, "this time, according to Yuri Popov, the detention was carried out without violence - all the detainees were politely offered to go to the riot police bus. To disperse the picket, which this time also did without violence , and the detention of the activists was watched with apparent pleasure by the deputy prefect of the Central Administrative District of Moscow, Sergei Anatolyevich Vasyukov.

Passports were confiscated from all those brought there in the Tverskoy police department, but, unlike the previous days, they were not placed in a "monkey cage", but simply kept in the police department. The riot police prepare reports, but so far the detainees have not been explained for what offense they were taken to the police. Thus, they do not even have the status of detainees, and they are not subject to the three-hour term of administrative arrest.”

On June 2, the situation around the Emmanuel Church was taken under control by Y. Luzhkov.

On June 3, the action of Pentecostals on Tverskaya continued. The police again took away the posters from the audience.

At 12-45 Yu. Popov was detained. The police lieutenant who carried out the arrest said that he would not be taken to the Tverskoye police department, as usual, but to the 10th police station near the Belorussky railway station. Previously detained A. Purshaga, according to Yu. Popov, was kept in the "monkey house" of the 14th police station along with drunks and hooligans.

At about 3:30 p.m., having drawn up detention protocols, two pastors, a press secretary and two ordinary members of the church were released. After their release, they returned to Tverskaya Square and joined the picketers.

On June 6 , Portal-Credo.ru reported that on June 1, after a meeting of the Council for Interaction with Religious Associations under the President of the Russian Federation, the chairman of the Russian Union of Christian Artists, Sergei Ryakhovsky, informed the head of the presidential administration, Dmitry Medvedev, about the situation around the Emmanuel Church and asked him to report on the actions Moscow police to President Putin.

In addition, according to the information of the portal, "On June 6, the Justice of the Peace of the Tverskoy District Court considered the case on charges of an administrative offense against the picket participants, who were detained...". (See also the post on the website of the Slavic Legal Center .)

One of the participants in the picket, a 71-year-old pensioner, was fined 500 rubles by the Tverskoy District Court for disobeying the lawful demands of a police officer. In total, about 30 members of the "Emmanuel" church were brought to administrative responsibility.

On June 7, senior pastor of the "News of Hope" church from Zelenogorsk I.Yu. Astafiev, who also took part in the action, was sentenced to five days' imprisonment. In protest, he went on a hunger strike, which other participants in the trial of members of the Emmanuel Church intend to join. Portal-Credo.ru , referring to the press secretary of the church, Yuri Popov, reports that "the court is increasingly beginning to resemble a massacre in the spirit of the 30s of the last century. The judge does not listen to what the witnesses say. Major Krylov acts as the main witness, who organized the dispersal of the picket, who was regularly and continues to be in the same room with Judge Kovalevskaya A.B., where they make decisions together. It is expected that the decision against the other picket participants will be even tougher."

At the same time, the judge rejected the petitions of the accused to involve lawyers in the process. “Thus,” the portal notes, “magistrate A.B. Kovalevskaya violated the fundamental constitutional right of citizens to protection in a trial. At present, the courthouse has arrived lawyer of the Slavic Legal Center Vladimir Ryakhovsky, who will seek the court to provide him with the opportunity to defend detainees believers in the process of those arrested for participating in the picket".

Among those sentenced on June 7 to a fine was Tatyana Zaitseva, who did not have time to take part in the picket on June 1.

On June 8, two more participants in the rally, Sergei Sviridkin and Alexander Kucheinik, were sentenced to a fine of 10 minimum wages.

Elena Polyakova, chief specialist of the prefecture of the Central Administrative District of Moscow, spoke at the trial, saying that the prefecture of the Central Administrative District of Moscow repeatedly violated the procedure established by law for coordinating events held by public and religious associations. The court did not take this evidence into account.

The senior pastor of the "Emmanuel" church A. Purshaga was also sentenced to imprisonment for five days. As Portal-Credo.ru writes, "the mistrust of the justice of the peace of the Tver court A.B. Kovalevskaya to the words of witnesses and the detainee, on the one hand, and complete mutual understanding with police major A. Krylov from the Tverskaya district police department, on the other, allows the press center churches to draw conclusions about the biased attitude of the court to the case". A. Purshaga also went on a hunger strike in protest against lawlessness.

On June 9, a new Pentecostal protest began on Tverskaya Square. This time the main reason was the sentences handed down by the court against A. Purshaga and other members of the church.

On June 10, members of the "Emmanuel" church continued their protest action on Tverskaya. Since the believers did not have permission to hold a picket, they gathered near the Moskva store and stood silently without taking out posters. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs demanded to vacate a place at the underpass in connection with the start of its repair.

On the same day, five more members of the church who participated in the pickets were convicted. Y. Popov was sentenced to five days in prison. And about. the senior pastor of the church "Emmanuel" Elena Purshaga. Church administrator Bakur Azaryan and parishioners Alexander Solovyov, Oleg Kolyada and Yuri Puchkov were sentenced to a fine of 1,000 rubles each. every. Y. Popov after the announcement of the verdict went on a hunger strike in the courtroom.

The minibus belonging to the community was evacuated by representatives of the traffic police. Police colonel Kalushkin confiscated the power of attorney to drive the bus from the driver, having previously informed that the car could be mined. The owner of the minibus, Sergei Matvienko, drew up an act of theft.

On the same day, ROSHVE issued a new statement regarding the current situation. "The leadership of ROSHVE expresses confidence that this conflict will be resolved in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation and the current legislation of the Russian Federation, and the city government will find a legal, constructive solution that will satisfy both parties," the statement says. then the forces deliberately provoke the indignation of civil society and discredit in the eyes of the public both the Protestants and the Russian government, which has repeatedly declared its commitment to the course of democracy, the protection by the state of the legitimate rights and freedoms of its citizens, and strict observance of the rule of law.

We also call on the clergy of ROSHVE not to shy away from spiritual service to people in political activities. We are not supporters of "orange" and any other revolutions."

On June 12, members of the church again came to Tverskaya Square. They made no demands, but sang hymns and prayed. For more than an hour and a half, the police calmly watched them. However, then about 30 people were detained again. 10 of them were taken to the Meshchansky District Department of Internal Affairs, where they were forced to write explanatory notes. The rest had to sit locked in sun-hot buses without water.

On June 13, A. Purshaga was released from custody, where he spent an extra 21 hours. After his release, the senior pastor of the "Emmanuel" church continued his hunger strike.

of A. Purshaga's statement was distributed On June 16, the text , in which he called on the leaders of Protestant associations not to give the confrontation between the Emmanuel Church and Moscow officials "a political coloring or use these events to build up their own political weight."

The Khamovnichesky and Tverskoy courts did not consider the cases of the believers who were detained on June 12. All of them were released. It also became known that one of the picketers, who alone went out with a poster to the square in front of the mayor's office, was acquitted (although the acting inter-district prosecutor of Moscow protested this decision of the justice of the peace).

On June 20, the Pentecostals began a new series of pickets. In parallel, an "individual" action of one of the members of the "Emmanuel" church is taking place.

The rallies on Pushkinskaya Square took place on 26 and 29 June.

On June 27 and 28, the police twice "invited for a conversation" in the police department of the Tverskoy district, a parishioner of the Emmanuel church, Alexander Solovyov, who stood alone with a poster in front of the mayor's office. Moreover, during the second "conversation", as Y. Popov, the press secretary of the church, said, "specifics appeared in the words of the representatives of the law: firstly, there will be no more individual pickets on Tverskaya Square. Secondly, any methods will be used for this. As an example, police officers threatened to send "their" picketer so that the picketing would cease to be solitary. But then, for an unauthorized picket by a group of people, the guardians of the law promised 15 days of arrest. Other, even more gloomy options were predicted ... "

On June 28, the prefecture of ZAO offered the church a site in the village of Vnukovo near Moscow (about half an hour's drive from Moscow), but the believers refused, noting that expensive design and survey work had been carried out by the church for the former place and that 90% of the parishioners of the Emmanuel church were Muscovites.

In the meantime, the geography of the pickets has expanded. reported on the evening of June 29 As Portal-Credo.ru , "if during the past week ... an individual picket stood only on Tverskaya Square opposite the Moscow City Hall, then by June 29 the number of such pickets had increased to seven. According to the press secretary of the church " Emmanuil" by Yuri Popov, individual pickets are still standing on Tverskaya Square, in Voznesensky Lane, where the windows of the city hall overlook, on Pushkinskaya Square, near the city hall building on Novy Arbat (the former CMEA building), near the Moscow City Duma building on Petrovka, near the Federation Council building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka (the adjacent building houses the Tverskoy District Department of Internal Affairs, where some members of the Emmanuel Church spent many hours in custody over the past month), on Triumfalnaya Square (former Mayakovsky Square) opposite the Moscow City Architecture building.

On June 30, the Tverskoy Court of Moscow considered the protest of the Tverskoy inter-district prosecutor against the decision of the justice of the peace against Sergei Matveenko, a member of the "Emmanuel" church, who alone stood with a poster in front of the mayor's office. Magistrate A.B. Kovalevskaya acquitted the picketer, but the prosecutor considered that the action was illegal, since, firstly, it took place on the territory of the official parking lot of the Moscow government, and secondly, S. Matveenko expressed "not his personal demands, but the public opinion of members of the religious organization of the Moscow Central Church of Evangelical Christians "Emmanuel". However, the district court did not agree with the prosecutor's opinion and, thus, confirmed the right of believers to hold such actions.

The rally of the Emmanuel Church, planned for July 3, was not allowed to be held by the officials of the prefecture of the Central Administrative District, suggesting that the rally should be replaced with a picket. Credo.ru notes that the offer is a violation of the law, because "The head of the prefecture can make adjustments in terms of the time and place of a public event, but not in terms of its form."

Emergency statement of the Russian United Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith (Pentecostals). 2005. May 30.

Sources

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• URGENT: Pentecostal picket on Tverskaya Square dispersed, 10 people detained by police // There.
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