The head of the Emmanuel mercy mission asks to be protected from the arbitrariness of the Ivanovo prosecutor's office and the management of Ivenergomash.

to the governor of the Ivanovo region Mikhail Men Pastor of the Church of Evangelical Christians, head of the Moscow Christian Mission of Mercy "Emmanuel" Bakur Azaryan sent an appeal in connection with the conflict over the property of the mission in the Ivanovo region.

December 1, 1996 AOOT "Ivenergomash" The Moscow Christian mission of mercy "Emmanuel" has concluded an agreement with AOOT "Ivenergomash" on the transfer of property of a children's dacha on Lake Rubskoe, Teikovsky District, Ivanovo Region, for temporary use for a period of 25 years. The dacha was to be used as a Christian camp for children and teenagers. The buildings were handed over without a roof and windows, the area around was littered with debris. The mission forces removed the garbage, restored the destroyed parts of the walls and roof, inserted windows, and installed sewers. During all this time, the mission carried out charitable work, sending children to rest on the Black Sea at their own expense, children's camps were organized on the territory of the dacha.

In 2003, the new management of Ivenergomash refused to recognize the agreement and demanded $1 million from the Pentecostals for the restored buildings. Without the knowledge of the mission, the management of Ivenergomash drew up documents for a dacha at the BTI and sold the buildings, along with the property of a charitable organization, to a company whose leaders they themselves were. After that, they demanded termination of the contract. The court refused to terminate the contract, but recognized it as not concluded. After that, the Pentecostals were asked to leave the premises. The mission left, taking their own property.

After the capture of the Ivenergomash base, he began to seek the initiation of a criminal case against the head of the mission, B. Azaryan, accusing him of stealing property. After the officers of the Regional Economic Crime Department of the Teikovsky District Department of Internal Affairs issued a decision seven times to refuse to initiate a criminal case, prosecutor Muravyova herself initiated a criminal case under the article "arbitrariness." The investigator said that he was being pressured by prosecutors, so he was forced to issue an indictment and take the case to court.

B. Azaryan regards the actions of the leaders of Ivenergomash and the prosecutor's office as arbitrariness and asks the governor to protect the organization.

Aleksey Chesnokov, an employee of the regional administration's public relations department responsible for relations with religious organizations, said that the regional administration did not intend to interfere in relations between the prosecutor's office and protesters. He advised B. Azaryan to appeal against the actions of the Teikovsky district prosecutor's office and apply to the regional prosecutor's office. Neither the case of the Emmanuel mission, nor the detention of the Baptists, according to the official, is a consequence of the religious policy of the authorities.

Sources

• DOCUMENT: Appeal of the Mission "Emmanuel" to the Governor of the Ivanovo Region Mikhail Menu regarding the persecution of Evangelical Christians // Portal-Credo.ru. 2006. May 29.
• The administration of the Ivanovo region will not interfere in the actions of law enforcement agencies in relation to Protestant churches // There. May 30.