Baptists in the separatist republic of Transdniester in
eastern Moldova have complained of increasing restrictions on the distribution
of their literature. Pastor Vasili Timoshchuk told Forum 18 News Service that
on 30 August their street library in the village of Krasnoe in Slobozia
district south of the Transdniestran capital Tiraspol was broken up and its
leader held by the police at the instigation of the local Orthodox priest Fr
Igor Konstantyushko. But the secretary of the Tiraspol Orthodox diocese
rejected Baptist claims that their priest was involved. "I can't believe
this," Fr Dionisy Abramov told Forum 18 from Tiraspol on 4 September.
"Fr Igor doesn't command the police. That's a state matter." The
Transdniestran authorities – who are close to the Orthodox diocese - have a
history of impeding distribution of literature by Baptists and other religious
minorities they dislike.
Fr Abramov told Forum 18 that had Fr Konstantyushko taken part in breaking up
the library "it would be a very serious issue for the diocese".
"We would demand an explanation from him." But he repeated that he
could not believe that Fr Konstantyushko had taken part.
Fr Abramov admitted he had not spoken to Fr Konstantyushko to confirm whether
he had been involved or not. Forum 18 was likewise unable to reach him. The
diocese said he had no home phone in Krasnoe and no mobile phone. The contact
number the diocese had for him in the village was of some elderly parishioners,
who were unable to go to find him when Forum 18 telephoned.
However, Fr Abramov attacked the activity of other religious organisations
which, he claimed, "often break the law". "Any religious
activity needs to be agreed with the state," he told Forum 18. He
complained that unregistered religious organisations (the Krasnoe Baptist
community is unregistered) "conduct propaganda". Echoing the
phraseology of Transdniestran officials, he denied that the Baptist Church of
which the Krasnoe congregation is a member even exists. "There is no such
organisation," he declared bluntly.
According to the Baptists, Fr Konstantyushko confiscated all the books from the
street library run by local Baptist Aleksandr Kulysh and called the police.
"Aleksandr was forced to go to the local police station, where they
demanded he sign an official record," Pastor Timoshchuk told Forum 18 from
Tiraspol on 4 September. "He refused and the policeman got angry. The
books still haven't been returned." Kulysh was soon released, but the Baptists
fear he will be summoned to an administrative commission, where he could be
fined. It remains unclear on what basis he might be accused.
Pastor Timoshchuk insists Fr Konstantyushko was instrumental in breaking up the
street library. "I rushed to the police station with a colleague after
Aleksandr was detained. I saw the priest in the police station together with
the local police chief and the district policeman," he told Forum 18.
Kulysh, who hosts the Krasnoe Baptist congregation in his home, has several
times been detained by police for running street libraries and fined. On one
occasion he was fined under Article 200 of the code of administrative offences,
which punishes "violation of the law on religious associations" with
a fine of up to 50 times the minimum monthly wage. The judge reportedly told
him that it was not her decision that he should be fined for doing something
good, but she had to do it. Timoshchuk complained that Article 200 has been
"copied from the Soviet atheist times" and continues in force "although
we have democracy".
Asked about other occasions when Orthodox priests were alleged by the Baptists
to have instructed the local police to break up Baptist street meetings and
libraries, Fr Abramov flatly denied them. "There were no such incidents."
The breaking up of the street library came three weeks after the Transdniestran
customs – which is run by the local State Security Ministry (former KGB) –
confiscated Baptist literature. On 10 August customs officers at the Varnitsa
checkpoint in Bendery (Tighina) seized 240 copies of the Russian Baptist
journal Herald of the Truth from Ivan Dobrovolsky, who was returning to
Transdniester by moped. "He was given no documents about the confiscation
of the literature," a 31 August statement from Bendery's Baptist church
complained.
Bendery city procurator Valery Starodub told Forum 18 on 8 September that he
had "received a report" about the confiscation of the literature. He
said he would study the file and be able to explain to Forum 18 on what basis the
journals had been confiscated. When Forum 18 telephoned an hour later, an
official said he had fallen ill and had been taken to hospital. The official
said on 10 September he was still hospitalised and that no-one else was
available to answer Forum 18's questions as to why religious literature was
subject to confiscation.
The Bendery church reported that books seized from Baptist street libraries in
March and April (see F18News 29 April 2003) have now been returned, which
Starodub confirmed. "The administrative commission ordered their
return," Pastor Timoshchuk told Forum 18. "We have prayed that in
this latest case sense too will prevail."
Forum 18 tried to reach Pyotr Zalozhkov, the commissioner of religion and cults
who reports to the president of the unrecognised entity, Igor Smirnov. But
neither Zalozhkov nor his assistant Tamara Kovalchuk answered the phone at
their office in Tiraspol between 3 and 10 September, so Forum 18 was unable to
find out why Baptist street libraries were considered illegal, why Orthodox
priests were apparently working with the police to break them up and why
Baptist journals could be confiscated from individuals returning to
Transdniester.
The Baptists belong to congregations of the International Council of Churches of
Evangelical Christians/Baptists, which rejects registration on principle in all
the former Soviet republics where it operates. Its congregations in
Transdniester have long faced obstructions to their work from the authorities,
which insist their activity is completely illegal.
Other religious communities in Transdniester whose activity is restricted
include the Methodists, whose two local congregations have been repeatedly
denied registration (see F18News 5 September 2003).
Despite their closeness to the authorities, Orthodox leaders also complain
about some of the provisions of Transdniester's 1995 religion law. "We're
not free – we have to register," Fr Abramov told Forum 18.
"Unfortunately the law demands it." He said the religion law is not
perfect and needs revision.