MARYANOVK, Crimea — Seven of nine Baptists who conducted an outdoor religious meeting in Maryanovk, a village in central Crimea, were fined in May. An eighth Baptist was due in court June 15.
The fined Christians rejected police and court insistence that their event required prior notification under Russia’s Demonstrations Law.
“This event did not disturb public order and did not threaten the safety of the participants themselves or of other citizens,” church members insisted.
The chair of the village council who halted the event, Aleksei Rusanov, and the head of the District Police, Col. Aleksandr Venikov, both refused to discuss their actions.
Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014, some religious communities have complained of state restrictions on public activities they had previously conducted when the peninsula was under Ukrainian rule. The fines came as proposed new punishments for “religious agitation in public places” passed a first reading in the State Council of Crimea.
(F18)
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