Pastor freed from prison; another to be jailed

MINSK, Belarus — In the wake of his March 13 release from prison in the Belarusian capital Minsk after completing a 10-day sentence, Baptist pastor Georgi Vyazovsky said fellow prisoners and wardens were “amazed” he had been locked up for conducting worship in his own home. “They’d never had such a case before — one of the staff remarked that the judge must have gone crazy,” he said. Some 30 Protestant supporters who had gathered at the prison to welcome him on his release were roughly moved away, as 20 special police stood by.

Reportedly, Vyazovsky is the first person to have been imprisoned for religious worship in the territory of Belarus for some 20 years, but at least one further prosecution appears imminent. Pentecostal bishop Sergei Tsvor is facing the same charges of conducting illegal services although his congregation in Minsk has official registration.