Belarus Authorities Clash With Religious Leaders Over Restrictive Law

Forum 18 reports that in Belarus, Baptist Pentecostal Church Pastor Antoni Bokun has been sentenced to a 3-day prison term for leading a communion service without permission at his home in violation of the country's 2002 Religion Law. Calling for reform of the law, some 5,000 to 7,000 Christians attended a religious freedom prayer service in Minsk to protest Bokun's arrest, the imminent deportation of a Polish Pentecostal, and other religious harassment. Belorusski Novosti reports that 5 young people on Tuesday picketed the offices of the Committee on Religious and Ethnic Affairs in protest of the ban on registered religious communities holding prayer services in residential premises. Many groups are having trouble finding other space.