Forum 18 News: Russia

14 November 2006
 RUSSIA: WILL NGO REGULATIONS RESTRICT RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES?
 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=869
 Fulfilling the requirements of Russia's January 2006 legal amendments -  commonly referred to as the NGO Law - will be practically impossible for  many religious organisations, a Russian religious rights lawyer, Vladimir  Ryakhovsky, has suggested to Forum 18 News Service. He thinks that "there  will be selective application of the law - right up to liquidation - for  those not to the authorities' liking." However, a senior Federal  Registration Service official has stressed to Forum 18 that the deadline  for religious organisations to submit the first annual accounts of their  activity - 15 April 2007 - is still far off. "We're not dealing with it  yet," Andrei Sarychev told Forum 18. The bureaucratic requirements are  very detailed. "A charitable foundation might manage this, but how can a  religious organisation say how many people were at its events? Or whether  a Russian or foreign citizen put money in its collection box? What  constitutes 'charter activity' for a religious organisation?" questioned  Ryakhovsky. Religious organisations sometimes complain about petty checks  made by local Federal Registration Service departments.
 

 15 November 2006
 RUSSIA: HOW LIKELY ARE MISSIONARY RESTRICTIONS?
 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=870
 In early September 2006 Russian Justice Ministry proposals for a draft  law, aimed at "Counteracting Illegal Missionary Activity," were published  by the Slavic Centre for Law and Justice. The draft proposes wide-ranging  restrictions on all "missionary activity." Vladimir Ryakhovsky, a lawyer  with the Centre, told Forum 18 News Service this month that he hoped that  it would not be considered by the Duma, Russia's parliament, "because it's  absurd." Andrei Sarychev, a senior Justice Ministry official, stressed that  the draft has no formal status. "It is still a proposal - it hasn't been  taken up by the Duma or anything," adding that he did not know who was  responsible for it. Stepan Medvedko, a consultant to the Duma Committee on  Religious and Social Organisations, told Forum 18 that no such proposals  have been taken up by his Committee for Duma consideration. "We are not  considering any changes to the 1997 Religion Law right now." He also  stressed that the Justice Ministry text was "just a proposal - it hasn't  been sent to us so we can't comment on it" and added that all other  suggested amendments "have either gradually been rejected or else became  no longer necessary."
 
 
 Forum 18
 Postboks 6603
 Rodelokka
 N-0502 Oslo
 NORWAY