Belarus Baptist fined for organizing group trip

Belarus Baptist fined for organizing group trip

KOBRIN, Belarus — A state official has defended as lenient a fine of almost two weeks’ average wages imposed on Viktor Orekhov for organizing a church summer vacation in the town of Kobrin, Belarus.

“What European country would tolerate a group of people doing what they like, completely ignoring the state and law, not responding to the authorities’ comments?” religious affairs official Vasili Marchenko told Forum 18 News Service.

Baptists in the southwestern Brest region were denied permission to rent leisure facilities they had used in earlier years. After they proceeded in June to camp on private land, police invaded the camp to question the children and threatened to close it by force. Orekhov was fined Aug. 24 for the creation or leadership of a religious organization without state registration.

“We are to blame, it seems, for being believers,” Orekhov pointed out.
“This is why I was prosecuted and fined.” This is the first significant fine in over a year to be handed down to a member of the Baptist Council of Churches in Belarus.

In July an ideology official tried to break up a charismatic church’s summer camp.