Pastor of ‘New Life’ Church disproves information of Belarusian TV

The pastor of Minsk Church New Life, bishop of the religious association of Full Gospel Christians in the Republic of Belarus Viachaslau Hancharenka disproved the information that was publicized on 9 March by the Panorama program of the 1st channel of the Belarusian TV.

In particular, the pastor disproved the statement of the commissioner on affairs of religions and nations Leanid Huliaka that a new peace of land had been proposed to the church. V.Hancharenka states that the letter by the head of Minsk city executive committee Mikhail Tsitsiankou, received in August 2008, ‘contains not a proposal, but an ultimatum’: if the religious community yielded to the authorities it building for 36 million rubles, Minsk city executive committee intends to start ‘consideration of the question of placement and construction of a temple by the religious community’.

Since 2006 the Supreme Economical Court has considered the suits of the church on finding unlawful the rulings of Minsk city executive committee of 17 August 2005 about confiscation of the piece of land and the building in Kavaliova Street 72 from the religious community; about restructure of the building of cowshed to a temple and compensation of the harm inflicted by Minsk city executive committee. On 13 January 2009 the judge of the Supreme Economical Court Katsiaryna Karatkevich turned down the suit of the religious association. On 10 February the believers appealed against this verdict to the Cassation Board of the Supreme Economical Court. On 5 March the latter instance upheld the verdict of 13 January 2009.

V.Hancharenka disproves the statements of the author of the report that the authorities intended to build a kindergarten or a school on the territory of the church and the children will have no place for learning as a result of the position of the church. The pastor quotes the answer of the committee of architecture and municipal engineering of Minsk city executive committee Aliaksei Vaha to the question of the judge K.Karatkevich about what was intended to be built on the piece of the land that belonged to the church: ‘Nobody knows. The detailed plan of development of the former village of Sukharava has been corrected since 2006, and this correction still continues’.

The lawyer of the church Siarhei Lukanin informed the BelaPAN that the believers expect refutation of the information that was publicized on TV. Otherwise the religious association will have to go to law.