Belarus Appeals Court Rejects Challenge To Religious Registration Law

Forum 18 yesterday reported on a March 2 decision by the Supreme Court of Belarus that rejected a constitutional attack on the country's religion law. The law requires registration of religious groups. (The Supreme Court is not the highest court in Belarus. The highest court for constitutional interpretations is the Constitutional Court.) In the appeal, brought by a Pentecostal pastor who had been fined the equivalent of $149 (US) for leading an unregistered congregation, the court's Vice-chairman Valeri Kalinkovich rejected arguments that the registration provisions violate the religious freedom protections found in Articles 23 and 31 of the Belarus Constitution and in Art. 18, Part 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.