Belarus's new religious Law: Re-registration, Restriction and Repression
Natallia Vasilevich, theologian and lawyer from Minsk, Belarus. Vasilevich is a moderator of Belarusian ecumenical group “Christian Vision”, which, along with other activities, closely monitors issues of freedom of religion or belief in Belarus. Photo: WCC
A new Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organisations was adopted in Belarus by a Law on Amending Laws on the Issues of Activities of Religious Organisations signed by Aliaksandr Lukashenka on 30 December 2023 and published on 5 January 2024. According to the Law on Amending, the new Law on Freedom of Conscience comes into force six months after its official publication, that means, from 5 July 2024 (Art. 7). After that all religious organisations, registered before 5 July 2024, are required to undergo a process of re-registration until 5 July 2025 (Art. 4).
Article by Natallia Vasilevich, theologian, lawyer and PhD candidate at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Bonn, and moderator of Belarusian ecumenical group “Christian Vision”
First, the Law withdraws the status of a legal entity of any religious organisation and requires a new registration for obtaining this status and subsequently the right to exercise freedom of religion or belief.
Requirement of re-registration of all religious organisations is one of the most significant aspect of the new legislation, which demands de facto a new registration of all religious organisations which are already registered prior to the new Law on Freedom of Conscience entering into force. Re-registration requires the same procedure as the registration of a new religious organisation. The new law in fact withdraws the status of a legal entity and demands to register anew.
Not all of the existing religious organisations will be able to meet a requirement for re-registration, such as number of members registered as living in the same or adjacent localities (twenty citizens of Belarus of legal age over 18). This is a special challenge in smaller inhabited localities, where population is declining.
“The new Law on Freedom of Conscience restricts freedom of religion even in a more severe way.”
Second, the law demands mandatory state registration of religious organisations not only to acquire legal personality, but also to act in a legal framework in general, and therefore criminalises all unregistered religious activities of communities and individuals.
In case the organisation fails to re-register, it will be outlawed, as any religious activities without registration are subject of criminal persecution (Article 193.1 of the criminal code), while state registration of a religious organisation is mandatory and serves as a pre-condition to operate and exercise their freedom of religion or belief (Art. 15).
In comparison with its previous version, the new Law on Freedom of Conscience restricts freedom of religion even in a more severe way. This was noticed in the report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, together with the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief on 28 August 2023 (OL BLR 7/2023). While restrictions were introduced on freedom of association, the new Law targeted at religious organisations, and these restrictions was tackled in the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Belarus, Anaïs Marin from 9 May 2024 (A/HRC/56/65).
For example, Art. 13 demands that religious communities (the lowest level of registered religious organisation) are allowed to operate only in the place of their registration, restricted to one or several neighbouring localities, where its members are registered as residents (Art. 13). Therefore, even if a community enjoys legal status in one locality, it is outlawed when operating in another locality.
Thirdly, the Law on Freedom of Conscience discriminates individuals and communities on the basis of their political views and attitudes.
The individuals, included in a special governmental list of those involved in the extremist activities, can not be neither leaders nor the founding members of religious organisations. The "List of organisations and individuals involved in terrorist activities" or the "List of citizens of the Republic of Belarus, foreign citizens or stateless persons involved in extremist activities” includes hundreds of those who participated in peaceful protests in 2020 in Belarus and were condemned. Many of them are believers or ministers in different Christian churches. Christian Vision found names of 57 believers included in the list[1].
The legal grounds for dissolving a religious organisation (Art. 23) also include requirement of political loyalty to the state authorities: activities which are going in contradiction with “the main directions of domestic and foreign policy”, (p.2, par.10 Art. 8), “discrediting of the Republic of Belarus” (p.3, par. 10 Art. 8), “other extremist activities” (p. 3, par. Art. 8) are forbidden.
“Discrediting of the Republic of Belarus” is a term referring to a criminal offence, prosecuted under Article 369-1 of the Criminal Code and “extremist activities” are covered by the Law on Combating Extremism, which after amendment on 14 May 2021 expanded the notion of “extremism”.
Both are controversial terms because of their broad definition which include restrictions of freedom of conscience, of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, and are used for politically motivated repressions also against believers and religious communities.
Persecutions of religious communities in Belarus have different forms
Already before the new Law on Freedom of Conscience it was practiced by the authorities to dissolve or threaten to dissolve religious organisation due to political disloyalty and expressing dissenting views. For example, 12 December 2023 the Supreme Court took a final decision on liquidation of the Full Gospel church “New Life” following recognition of some of the materials published on its media and social media as “extremist”, namely, a video entitled “Position of Christians of the New Life Church” against the political persecution, terror and violence published in 2020,[2] and a post on the church’s Instagram profile dated 17 August 2020, which contained photos of church members who stood in front of the church in a prayer chain on 16 August 2020, accompanied by a message advocating for Christians standing against violence. On 23, 25, 28 and 31 August 2023 different courts classified the church’s Instagram, the specified video on its YouTube, official website, Facebook, Telegram, VKontakte page, alongside a YouTube video titled “Pastor Viachaslau Hancharenka condemns violence and calls on the authorities to repent!” as “extremist materials”.[3]
Natallia Vasilevich, writes that since the beginning of the current political crisis in 2020, the authorities intimidate, detain, and threaten religious leaders and their respective communities. Photo: WCC
Not only religious minorities were targets of such practices. Plenipotentiary for Religious and Ethnic Affairs on 27 November 2020 issued a warning no. 02-02/812 to the Belarusian Orthodox Church[4]. In the warning it was pointed out that the Church had allegedly violated article 16 of the Constitution and Article 8 of the Law On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations of the Republic of Belarus, and in accordance with Article 37 of the mentioned law, repeated violations within a year may lead to the body which registered the religious organisation to apply to the court for the liquidation of that organisation and, consequently, banning its activities in the Republic of Belarus. On 17 December 2020 this warning with instruction to fulfil the requirements was redirected by the Primate of the Belarusian Orthodox Church Metropolitan Veniamin (Tupeka) of Minsk to the late Archbishop of Hrodna Artemy (Kishchanka), who publicly spoke out several times against election fraud and violence: in a statement on 14 August 2020; in a sermon on 16 August 2020; in a sermon on Forgiveness Sunday on 14 March 2021.[5]
Religious leaders and ministers are systematically targeted due to their disloyalty or presumed disloyalty to current political authorities. Since the beginning of the current political crisis in 2020, the authorities intimidate, detain, and threaten religious leaders and their respective communities. Christian Vision, which monitors violations of freedom of religion or belief in Belarus and persecutions of Christians in the context of political crisis since 2020, has information on 20 Orthodox, 29 Roman Catholic, 5 Greek Catholic and 28 Evangelical priests and pastors, who experienced detentions, searches, criminal cases, arrests, fines or other forms of pressure for their statements in sermons, prayers, social networks and in media.[6]
Religious leaders and ministers are under constant surveillance and pressure. Volha Chamadanova, the head of the main department of ideological work and youth affairs of Minsk City Executive Committee, and in 2020, press secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, speaking to the assembly of clergy of Minsk diocese on 20 December 2023 in Minsk stated that over the course of a year, the authorities monitored more than 500 religious communities, in the process preventing the spread of “extremist” literature, and also revealed that in churches they prayed for Ukraine’s victory in the war. She also openly threatened “ideologically alien clergy” with detention and imprisonment.
Moreover, Belarusian authorities label independent religious media, social media accounts, materials, or symbols as “extremist materials,” or block access to web-sites with religious content on the basis of not following the strict political line. According to Christian Vision’s monitoring, the list of extremist materials includes media linked to a Roman Catholic priest Viachaslau Barok, Orthodox Archbishop of Hrodna and Vaŭkavysk Artemy (Kishchanka), a Belarusian Greek Catholic newspaper «Tsarkva», Full Gospel Church “New Life”, Ecumenical group «Christian Vision», Catholic Telegram-channel «Rerum Novarum», Catholic journalist and activist Maksim Hacak, Belarusian Orthodox parish in Vilnius (Ecumenical Patriarchate), Orthodox theologian Natallia Vasilevich, anti-war ecumenical channel «Christians against war!», Information about pro-war activities of the St Elisabeth Convent in Minsk[7]. The authorities also restricted access in Belarus to independent Catholic project Katholik.Life. Religious figures and communities, which are supposed to be politically disloyal are target of systematical defamation and hate-speech in state-linked media[8].
All this maintains a general atmosphere of fear, insecurity and intimidation, in which religious organisations and individuals can hardly exercise their fundamental human right of freedom of religion or belief freely.
Subsequently, it also restrict not only freedom of religion or belief, but also other human rights, such as freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of information, access to fair trial.
The new Law on Freedom of Religion, aimed at regulating religious activities in the Republic of Belarus, is repressive and discriminatory in nature, and does not comply with the international obligations undertaken by the Republic of Belarus to guarantee the right to freedom of religion, in particular Art. 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It also severely restricts freedom of assembly, protected under Art. 22 of ICCPR.
The Republic of Belarus is also not a part of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and victims of violations of right to freedom of religion or belief in Belarus do not have possibility for bringing their case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Due to the fact that Belarus denounced the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on October 27, 2022, accordingly, for citizens of Belarus and religious organizations whose right to freedom of religion is violated, such a mechanism for protecting their rights as individual complaints to the UN Human Rights Committee is no longer available.
International solidarity in this situation is crucial for monitoring and documenting violations of freedom of religion or belief, including aid to victims of such violations and pressure to the government. At the same time, the pressure from countries of the Western Europe and North America proved to have very limited effect.
The International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB), which also includes parliamentarians from broader geopolitical regions can play a crucial role in reaching out to Belarusian authorities and in serving as an instrument of protection of freedom of religion or belief.
[1] Christian Vision, Persecution of the religious communities in Belarus through accusations of extremism, https://belarus2020.churchby.info/persecution-of-the-religious-communities/
[2] The video was deleted, but there is a full transcript of this video done by “Christian Vision”, See: https://telegra.ph/Stalo-izvestno-za-chto-materialy-cerkvi-Novaya-zhizn-hotyat-priznat-ehkstremistskimi-08-23
[3] More see: Christian Vision, Persecution of the religious communities in Belarus through accusations of extremism, https://belarus2020.churchby.info/persecution-of-the-religious-communities/
[4] More information on this: Christian Vision. “В 2020 году Уполномоченный по делам религий угрожал Белорусской Православной Церкви лишением регистрации и запретом ее деятельности”, https://belarus2020.churchby.info/v-2020-godu-upolnomochennyj-po-delam-religij-ugrozhal-belorusskoj-pravoslavnoj-czerkvi-lisheniem-registraczii-i-zapretom-ee-deyatelnosti/
[5] Christian Vision, “Persecuted Belarusian clergy”, https://belarus2020.churchby.info/persecuted-belarusian-clergy/#Kishchenko
[6] For detailed list with description of cases see: Christian Vision, “Persecuted Belarusian Clergy”, https://belarus2020.churchby.info/persecuted-belarusian-clergy/
[7] Christian Vision, Persecution of the religious communities in Belarus through accusations of extremism, https://belarus2020.churchby.info/persecution-of-the-religious-communities/
[8] Christian Vision, “Defamation of believers by the authorities and propagandisits”, https://belarus2020.churchby.info/defamation-of-believers-by-the-authorities-and-propagandisits/
For more information, please contact:
Amanda Barth Gulbrandsen, IPPFoRB Communications and Advocacy Adviser
abg@nhc.no