Belarusian Evangelical pastors address President with appeal

On 20 August 50 pastors of Belarusian Evangelical churches have addressed President Lukashenka with an open letter, covering several hot issues of human rights violations in the field of religious freedoms.
‘Numerous Evangelical churches, lacking due to various reasons possibilities to construct their own places of worship, have also been deprived of their right to rent such premises. Besides, believers of Evangelical churches have been subjected to humiliating surveillance by the state security bodies, resulting in repeated prosecutions,’ says the letter.
The address highlights the dramatic situation of the New Life church building – a protestant church harassed by the authorities for over ten years, which ‘forced the members of the church, together with believers of many other churches, to start a hunger-strike, drawing in a wide public response.’  
‘The seizure of the building at Kavaliou St. 72 will deprive our believers of possibilities to gather and worship God together,’ state the priests, urging President Lukashenka to immediately intervene so that lawfulness as well as the constitutional rights of believers could be reinstated.