Parliamentary questions
WRITTEN QUESTION E-2183/03
by Maurizio Turco (NI) to the Commission
(19 June 2003)

Subject: Further violations of religious freedom and legal restrictions on religious practice in Belarus

On the evening of 1 June, a group of armed police burst into a private apartment in the capital, Minsk, interrupting a Hindu meditation ritual. The leader of the group, Natalya Solovyova, said that the raid had occurred exactly one week after a similar meditation meeting had been interrupted in another part of the city. The Hindu group was not fined for meeting, but was threatened with legal repercussions, including prison, after having been dismissed as a sect by the police. On no occasion have the authorities cited any legal grounds for such raids. The group had attempted unsuccessfully to register before the entry into force of the more restrictive law on religion introduced last November. No official responsible for national or local religious affairs, including Alla Ryabitseva, head of the Department for Ethnic and Religious Affairs in Minsk, has provided an explanation of the grounds for the armed raids on these meetings.

In view of the foregoing, and of the excellent cooperation existing between the European Union and Belarus in economic and trade matters:

- Is the Commission aware of the facts stated here?

- What initiatives, in the field of cooperation, might represent a serious and effective means of inducing Belarus to uphold freedom of religion?