In Ivanovo, three members of the Baptist church were detained for distributing books of the New Testament

On May 13-14 in Ivanovo, members of the local Church of Evangelical Christians-Baptists "Resurrection" held in the "Sovremennik" cinema - on the basis of an appropriate agreement with the directorate - the action "There is Hope": first, the Christian film "Renaissance" was shown, then the Gospels were distributed, as well as a book that includes the New Testament and the Psalter. On the second day of the action, three out of about 15 people who were distributing literature (there were about 500 people in the hall) were detained by people in civilian clothes.

According to the Slavic Legal Center (SPC), "the basis for the verification, based on the ruling, was Article 13.22 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, which involves the imposition of a fine for violating the procedure for declaring output data, citing deliberately false data, etc. How Sergei Chugunov, a lawyer with the Slavic Legal Center, noted that Article 13.22 of the Code of Administrative Offenses applies to the production and manufacture of mass media products, but essentially does not apply to books, and even more so cannot apply to publications of biblical texts - the New Testament and the Psalter. , which refers to publications that are published at least once a year.

The members of the church, according to Sergei Chugunov, were taken to the police station, interrogated, and a decision was made to conduct an appropriate check. Based on the results of the verification activities, a decision on bringing to administrative responsibility will be issued. According to Sergei Chugunov, it is not known how, according to the decree on checking the books of Holy Scripture, the "genuine" authorship of the Gospels, their truth and "data about the editor-in-chief" will be established. Law enforcement officials did not take into account the fact that immediately after the arrest of the distributors of the Gospels, the president of the "Gideon" mission in the Ivanovo region, Alexander Alexandrov, presented all the documents related to the publication and importation of the books of the New Testament into Russia. In addition, the books indicate that their Christian mission "Gideon" distributes them. The publications also contain information that this is a synodal translation and that "the publication is not intended for sale."

Pastor of the Resurrection ECB Church and senior pastor of the ECB Union for the Ivanovo and Vladimir regions, Vladimir Miskevich , said in an interview with the SOC press service that people in civilian clothes turned out to be employees of the regional department of the FSB.

"... The detained members of the community," the SOC reports, "they (UFSB employees. - Ed. ) told that they (Baptists. - Ed. ) go to the "American church", "harmful sect" and advised them more not attending Baptist services According to Miskevich, FSB officers exerted direct psychological pressure on believers and in fact intimidated them.

There were no foreign citizens at the Sovremennik Cinema Center during the "There is Hope" action, members of the officially registered Baptist community and people who came to watch the film were present. <...>

Pastor Vladimir Miskevich noted that Roman Efremov, head of the department of public relations, youth and information policy of the administration of the Ivanovo region, was informed about the conflict situation with the detention of the distributors of the Gospels. According to Miskevich, Efremov promised to keep the governor of the region, Mikhail Men, informed of the ongoing events. Yefremov also assured the representative of the church that the regional administration and internal affairs bodies had nothing to do with the detention of believers. In addition, members of the Baptist church were informed at the Oktyabrsky District Department of Internal Affairs that the detention of the distributors of the books of the New Testament and the Psalter was not carried out by the Department of Internal Affairs and was not its initiator.

Pastor Vladimir Miskevich considers the desire to check the presence of the "editor-in-chief" of the New Testament and the Psalter, as stated in the decree on conducting verification measures, and the disruption of the "There is Hope" action as an unlawful attempt to restrict the freedom of religion of church members. The actions of law enforcement officers are a continuation of the attacks on the Baptist community, which began in 2005, the pastor of the church is sure. Since then, several groups of American citizens have been expelled , who previously regularly came to the Ivanovo region at the invitation of the Resurrection ECB Church, brought humanitarian aid for orphanages and conducted English classes. As a rule, on the last day of the stay of foreign citizens, among whom were emigrants from Russia, officers of the FSB department for the Ivanovo region appeared and announced that they were being deported outside the country without explanation, and the local press published articles stating that the deported missionaries "wanted to lure children into their sect."

As follows from the message of the news agency Blagovest-info dated May 22, the leadership of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists appealed to the governor of the region, Mikhail Menu, in connection with the incident and expressed deep indignation at the persecution of believers.

During a meeting with the Baptists on June 9, M. Men promised to look into the situation and expressed concern about the actions of law enforcement officers. The governor sent a request to the police department of the Oktyabrsky district to find out at what stage the check of books is.

At the same time, the prosecutor's office of the Oktyabrsky district of Ivanovo confirmed the correctness of the actions of the Oktyabrsky district police department.

On September 28, the Slavic Legal Center reported: "... the church appealed to the regional administration, and a response was received from the leadership of the internal affairs bodies to the request of the regional administration, about which the church and the chairman of the Union of ECB Yuri Sipko were notified. In a letter received from the regional administration it is said that as a result of the inspection carried out for the disruption of the all-Russian action "There is Hope" in the cinema center "Sovremennik", which was held by the church "Resurrection", a reprimand will be actually issued to a number of police officers. be provided with "imprint data" in accordance with the law. According to Vladimir Miskevich, law enforcement agencies gave a twofold answer in order to close this case completely and get out of the current situation - it turns out that the guilty policemen will be punished for violations committed during the check, but by forbidding the distribution of the New Testament without "imprint", they tried to do everything according to the law and did the right thing. The governor of the Ivanovo region, Mikhail Men, who expressed his indignation to the believers about the ban on the distribution of the New Testament and took this matter under his control, expressed, according to Miskevich, a desire to meet with the head of the Union of ECB Yury Sipko in the near future and put an end to it. In fact, Vladimir Miskevich stressed, the Resurrection ECB Church and the Gideon mission continue to distribute the same books of the New Testament and the Psalter, and the police no longer put any obstacles in the way of the Baptists."

On November 28, the press service of the Slavic Legal Center reported that after the apologies made by the regional governor Mikhail Men at a meeting with representatives of the Russian Union of ECB on October 25, the conflict was completely settled.

“Mikhail Men,” reports the SOC, “apologised to the believers and stated that he was surprised by the incorrect actions of the secular authorities, which, in his opinion, harm the creation of a positive image of the region. As Vladimir Miskevich, the governor, noted in an interview with the SOC press service stated that the attempt to prevent the Baptists from spreading the New Testament was caused by a misunderstanding of the situation on the part of law enforcement officers and their misconception about confessions.Mikhail Men explained ignorance by the influence of atheistic times, decades of godlessness, as well as the costs, including the Orthodox worldview, whose representatives they often go too far, thinking that they are helping the state, but in fact they harm the authorities.This situation is an indicator of incompetence and a desire to serve the authorities, when everyone is treated with the same brush, the governor told the Baptists.Mikhail Men stressed that he hopes that this will not happen again. closed, the guilty law enforcement officers punished.

The tone of the meeting, according to Vladimir Miskevich, was set by Yury Sipko, leader of the ECB Union. He said that Baptists from the very beginning did not understand the actions of law enforcement agencies and had no idea how and through whose fault such an incident could occur. Now evangelical Christians-Baptists are ready, together with the authorities, to do everything they can for the inhabitants of the region. In turn, Governor Mikhail Men said that the doors are open for believers, and the church is invited to participate in humanitarian projects in the region and the city."

Sources