I. COSSACKS USE WHIPS AGAINST PROTESTANTS. A Cossack manifesto in Anapa kraii proclaims that the Cossacks 'are beginning a decisive struggle against these newly arrived preachers of schism and sectarianism, up to and including their forced expulsion from the krai'. II. SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS REGISTERED IN RUSSIA. With registration in hand, Adventists may have legal leverage for distributing Bibles in Anapa. III. UZBEKISTAN'S COUNTDOWN TO 15 AUGUST: A CHRONOLOGY. From raids on believers' homes, to closed churches, the hope for religious liberty is dim. IV. INDEPENDENT GEORGIAN EVANGELICALS WORK TOGETHER. Pastors pray together and discuss evangelism projects for their country. Tuesday 15 September COSSACKS USE WHIPS AGAINST PROTESTANTS By Roman Lunkin, Keston News Service Cossacks in the resort town of Anapa in Krasnodar krai, about 700 miles south of Moscow, have detained and whipped a local Russian Adventist who had been giving away Bibles in a public park. Local Orthodox clergy, while not fully endorsing this practice, have made little serious effort to discourage it. On 23 July two uniformed Cossacks interrupted a group of Adventists led by YURI SALOV as they were distributing Bibles in Anapa's central park. The two insisted that Salov go off with them in a car to the ataman of the Kuban Cossacks for the Anapa district. According to the Adventists, the ataman ANATOLI FYODOROV told Salov that Adventism was a 'bourgeois faith', accused him of 'betraying the Orthodox faith', and ordered him to lie down on a sofa. The ataman and a henchman then gave the young evangelist 20 lashes with an iron-tipped whip before releasing him. Cossacks refused to return 60 Bibles which they had confiscated from Salov and his companions. Anapa's Adventist pastor VALERI KHANENSON told Keston News Service in a telephone interview that relations between the local Cossacks and Protestants were 'quite tense' - though, in his opinion, the Jehovah's Witnesses and Hare Krishnaites felt freer. The pastor said he had requested a meeting with ataman Fyodorov after the whipping incident, but that Fyodorov had refused. Instead the ataman's deputy YURI KONDRATOV had given the Adventists a copy of the Cossacks' manifesto against 'sectarians'. This document, warning that 'pseudo-religious preachers' are trying to persuade residents and vacationers in the resort to follow 'false doctrines', proclaims that the Cossacks 'are beginning a decisive struggle against these newly arrived preachers of schism and sectarianism, up to and including their forced expulsion from the krai'. The manifesto claims that the Cossacks' campaign has the support of the krai's 'traditional confessions'; in response to the Adventist pastor's question, the ataman's deputy said that these were the confessions which were represented in the city government's council on religion: the Moscow Patriarchate, the Armenian church, the Roman Catholics and the Baptists. Pastor Khanenson told Keston that he had never before heard that such a local council even existed. Khanenson requested a meeting with the spiritual father ('dukhovnik') of the local Cossacks, Orthodox priest ALEKSANDR. According to the Adventist pastor, Fr Aleksandr denied that he approved of the whipping of Salov, and agreed to request the Cossacks to return the 60 Bibles; but the Cossacks continued to refuse. Keston rang the Anapa Cossacks' office to request clarification. SERGEI SEREBROV, a Cossack commander, responded that if Protestants engaged in public 'proselytism,' then the Cossacks would whip them. He said that by 'pseudo-religious' preachers they meant 'all who are against the Orthodox'. Keston then contacted the local Cossacks' 'dukhovnik', Fr Aleksandr. The priest, who refused to give his last name, said that Russia's 1997 law on religion did not go far enough to protect the country because it still 'allows sectarians to exist'. Asked for his own views on the Cossacks' actions, he replied that 'these are Cossack methods, I cannot stop them'. The 'dukhovnik' for all the Kuban Cossacks, FR SERGI OVCHINNIKOV, gave Keston simi;ar answers. He said that 'it is not good that they punished someone in that way, but the Cossacks have their own local traditions'. ANDREI MUKHORTOV, Anapa's plenipotentiary for relations with religious organisations, told Keston that he did not approve of the Cossacks' whipping of Salov, but that he thought the Adventists also behaved improperly since they were not formally registered as a congregation in the city, in his view they had no right to distribute Bibles in the city park. The Adventists have filed charges with the city police - who are generally considered to have bad relations with the Cossacks - demanding the return of their stolen Bibles. (END) Tuesday 15 September SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS REGISTERED IN RUSSIA The Adventist Press Service in Basel, Switzerland reports that the Seventh-Day Adventist Church has been successful in securing registration for their organisation in the Russian Federation. According to VIKTOR KRUSHENITSKY, religious liberty director for the Russian Adventist Church, this registration is for the Adventist Church organisation covering the whole of Russia; now individual entities of the church must reregister. 'Even though the deadline for reregistration is the end of 1999, local churches cannot legally be involved in certain activities until they are registered or reregistered. The higher organisation must gain approval before the lower organisation can apply,' Krushenitsky added. So it appears that as local Adventist churches reregister, even according to the strict interpretation of the law they should be able to distribute Bibles as they tried to do in Anapa, Krasnodar krai. Article 17, Point 1 of the 1997 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations states: 'Religious organisations have the right to produce, acquire, export, import and distribute religious literature, printed, audio and video material and other articles of religious significance.' (END) Tuesday 15 September UZBEKISTAN'S COUNTDOWN TO 15 AUGUST: A CHRONOLOGY by Felix Corley, Keston News Service On 15 August the period for registered religious organisations in Uzbekistan to apply for reregistration with the Ministry of Justice expired. Many believers in the country believe measures against them will be taken soon after, under the provisions of the harsh 1 May law on freedom of conscience and religious organisations. Here we present a chronology of recent events as the deadline approached. Those with further information are requested to report it to keston.institute@keston.org or fcorley@ndirect.co.uk 1 May 1998 - President ISLAM KARIMOV address parliament, the Oliy Majlis, calls for harsh measures against Islamic fundamentalists, threatens to shoot them personally. Parliament passes new version of the law on freedom of conscience and religious organisations, amending previous 1991 version. New law bans unregistered religious activity, proselytism and missionary activity. Parliament passes amendments to criminal code and civil code, with punishments of up to five years' imprisonment for religious offences that do not involve violence. 13 May 1998 - Police raid homes of Jehovah's Witnesses in Shakhrisabz and question several people. Mid-May 1998 - Presidential council officials visit Zaraulbazar labour camp and close prison mosque and Evangelical Christian/Baptist church. 15 May 1998 - Text of new law on freedom of conscience published in the Tashkent Russian-language paper 'Narodnoye Slovo'. The new law comes into force on publication. 19 May 1998 - Text of amendments to civil code and criminal code published in 'Narodnoye Slovo'. The new codes come into force on publication. 19 May 1998 - Text of new law published in the Tashkent Uzbek- language paper 'Khalk Suzi'. 26 May 1998 - Text of new law published in the Tashkent Russian-language paper 'Pravda Vostoka'. 28 May 1998 - Evangelical Christians/Baptists begin two-day meeting in Tashkent to discuss new law and issue appeal to President Karimov that the legislation turns law-abiding Baptists into criminals. 11 June 1998 - Adventist ministers meet in Tashkent to discuss the law and prepare appeal to President Karimov to reduce the minimum members needed for a congregation to register from 100 to 10, to enable groups with two or three registered congregations to form central administrations rather than congregations in eight of the country's fourteen regions and to lift the ban on missionary activity. 16 June 1998 - Adventists issue appeal to President Karimov prepared at 11 June meeting. There is no reply to the appeal. 16 June 1998 - Priests and ministers of five denominations (Catholic, Evangelical-Lutheran, Evangelical Christian/Baptist, Adventist and Full Gospel Christian) meet in Tashkent to discuss the law. Issue appeal to President Karimov expressing 'concern' about new law and asking for removal of the requirement to have 100 members for a congregation to register and removal of the ban on missionary activity. There is no reply to the appeal. 16 June 1998 - Three Jehovah's Witnesses whose homes were raided on 11 May fined in Shakhrisabz. 20 June 1998 - Council of Ministers (in Decree No. 263 addressed to the Ministry of Justice and signed by the prime minister OTKIR SULTONOV) issues detailed registration regulations specifying documents and fees necessary for registration applications. Decree requires all registered communities to lodge reregistration applications by 15 August. 24 June 1998 - Deputy Minister of Justice P.A. SAMATOV writes to registered communities instructing them to apply for reregistration and to present the required documentation by 15 August. 25 June 1998 - The procuracy of a district of Samarkand bans a Jehovah's Witness community, declaring that it is unregistered and would not qualify for registration under the new law as it has fewer than 100 members. Early August 1998 - Adventist communities in Navoi and Samarkand warned by local government officials that they will have problems after 15 August. 1 August 1998 - Unknown assailants attack two Russian journalists, VITALI PONOMAREV and NIKOLAI MITROKHIN, on the streets of Tashkent. The two had just returned from investigating religious repression in the Fergana valley. 4 August 1998 - The deputy head of the religious affairs committee, SHAAMIL MINOVAROV, who coordinates Christian matters, tells several Christian leaders verbally that the requirement of 100 adult members for a congregation to be eligible to seek registration is to be lifted and the deadline extended from 15 August until the end of the year. There is no confirmation of this statement, which is not published. 15 August 1998 - Deadline for reregistration applications to be lodged. (END) Tuesday 15 September INDEPENDENT GEORGIAN EVANGELICALS WORK TOGETHER On 21 June pastors of independent Evangelical Protestant churches gathered from 'all corners of Georgia' to pray for the people of their country. STEVE REUTERS of the Russian Association of Independent Christian Churches told Keston that these churches had never before worked together but that some pastors had travelled 300 kilometres (180 miles) for the first of what they hoped would be monthly meetings in Gori. Gori, the birthplace of JOSEPH STALIN, is more appropriately also the home of GAICC (the Georgian Association of Independent Christian Churches). These churches have already established a plan to plant similar churches where there are none at the moment and hope to open a Bible institute to prepare leaders for evangelism. One book on leadership development has been translated into Georgian. (END)