Crimea: Baptists fined
Three of eight Baptists from Saki in western
Crimea who refused to pay fines for holding
a public religious meeting were, in October
2015, sentenced to 20 hours of community
service each.
Five fines were
imposed by Judge Irina
Shevchenko without a formal court hearing.
A fine of about six weeks’ average local wages
has been ordered to be automatically deducted from the wages of another Baptist. Items
from the homes of four others have been
identified for possible seizure. Council of
Churches Baptists
refuse
to pay
fines
imposed for exercising their freedom of religion or belief. ‘They didn’t pay the fines as to
do so would be to admit that they did something wrong’, said a church member.
Russia: fines for public faith
It was reported in early March that communities who exercise freedom of religion or
belief in public without Russian state permission may find their members facing five-figure rouble fines if they do not inform the
local authorities in advance.
Café Bible study
It is possible that changes to the Religion
Law may have a positive effect on cases currently before the courts, such as that of a
Sochi Protestant
leader
fined
for holding
prayers and a Bible study in a rented café.
The FSB security service was behind that
case, sending officials to attend the meeting.