EU ambassadors meet Belarusian Christian leader

European Ambassadors to Belarus met with the leader of New Life Church in Minsk this week to discuss recent threats by the government to confiscate and destroy one of the largest protestant churches in the country.

According to New Life Church representatives, EU officials from 15 member states and from the European Commission Delegation met with Pastor Slava Goncharenko in the French Embassy, who informed them that the community continues to resist government efforts to force them to sell their church building, despite an official notice ordering them to turn it over to the city government by last weekend.

The church has been in a long-running struggle with the government to keep its doors open. Church leaders have repeatedly attempted to register in compliance with Belarusian law, but have been refused on each occasion.

The pastor and the church lawyer, Sergey Lukanin, were invited to the French embassy in Belarus on August 25. A few days earlier they had received official documentation from Belarusian authorities outlining details of the forced sale and confiscation of New Life Church. Pastor Goncharenko noted that the Church signature section on the sale and transfer of property documents completed by the Minsk City Executive Committee had been crossed out, and that funds have been transferred to the church, despite the fact that no agreement has been made.

New Life Church in Minsk has over one thousand members and has been the target of repeated government fines and shut down attempts since it’s foundation in 2001.

Rev Stuart Windsor, CSW’s National Director said: “This sad case represents the sorry state of religious freedom in Belarus. We urgently call on the European Union, having launched its Eastern Partnership initiative, to intervene on behalf of New Life Church Community and compel the Belarusian authorities to retract their decision, and to respect the religious liberty of all Belarusians throughout the country”.