IRPP News Update: Russia

Russian Church suggests amending provisions in NGO law

2006-12-14, Moscow, December 14, Interfax.  The Russian Orthodox Church has suggested that a number of provisions of the law On Non-Governmental Organizations regarding the confirmation of the number of members of religious organizations be amended. "The matter does not involve attempts to conceal finances, but regards a number of the law's provisions that, with all due respect, are impossible to observe," Moscow Patriarchate spokesman Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad told Interfax on Thursday. The Russian Orthodox Church suggests that religious organizations be exempt from the obligation to confirm the number of members, as the law on NGO requires, he said. Russian presidential civil society institutions development and human rights council head Ella Pamfilova told Interfax on Thursday that regulations following from the law on NGOs need adjustment. "Monitoring that has been carried out suggests a preliminary conclusion that some regulations should be modified," she said. "The accountability system, which was proposed not so much by the Federal Registration Service as by the Finance Ministry, is enormously cumbersome," she said.

Khanty-Mansiysk Court confirms Hizb ut-Tahrir activist's sentence

2006-12-14,  Khanty-Mansiysk, December 14, Interfax. The Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District Court has confirmed the ruling of the Nizhnevartovsk City Court in relation to a member of a local cell  of Hizb ut-Tahrir extremist organization. According to the press service of the Khanty-Mansiysk Prosecutor's Office, Nurmatov was pronounced guilty of "organizing activity of an extremist organization" and "involvement in crimes of terrorist nature" under the Criminal Code of Russia. He was sentenced to three years in jail. On April 25, the Nizhnevartovsk City Court recognized Uzbek national Nurmatov guilty of "organizing activity of an extremist organization" and "involvement in crimes of terrorist nature" in 2003- 2004. The leader of the local Hizb ut-Tahrir cell Eduard Khusainov was given a suspended four-and-a-half year-sentence in September 2005.

Moscow Patriarchate criticizes new reporting forms for religious organizations

2006-12-14, Moscow, December 14, Interfax.The Moscow Patriarchate is critical of new reporting forms  for religious organizations. "I think we should not resume the malpractice of the Soviet era when every step of a religious organization was controlled by the government, the text of the sermon was verified, and the state kept an eye on every religious document," Moscow Patriarchate legal expert Ksenia Chernega told Interfax on Thursday. Resolution 212 of the Russian government, adopted on April 15, 2006, says that every religious organization must submit reporting forms to territorial offices of the Federal Registration Service no later than April 15 following the year under review, the expert said. The reports must specify the activities of the religious organization, the makeup of its administration, as well as the expenditures and use of property. The Federal Registration Service is also demanding minutes of all parish meetings for the  previous three years be submitted, Chernega said. "It would be rather strange to count praying people at every parish or monastery and precisely register every donation, which is suggested by an amendment to the Law on Non-Profit Organizations," deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate External Church Relations Department Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin told Interfax. Heads of Russia's five Protestant organizations asked First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in early December to review reporting forms.

Source: Institute on Religion and Public Policy News Service
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