The Prosecutor who authorised a six-hour raid on a Protestant Sunday worship service in a private home in eastern Belarus has refused to explain why it happened. “It was an official action and I can’t discuss it,” Vitaly Kovalev, Prosecutor of the Chausy District, told Forum 18 News Service. He also refused to say what will be done with boxes of Bibles, Christian books and films confiscated during the raid, or whether the church’s pastor, Irina Marshalkovskaya-Grik, will face further action. Anna Danisevich, an official of the district Ideology Department, led the raid with four police officers and three “witnesses” as some 20 church members were singing hymns. Danisevich denied the raid was a raid. “We acted strictly in accordance with the law. We live in a democratic state,” she claimed. Asked why she and officials stayed at the house for six hours, she told Forum 18: “To prevent them from continuing their worship service.” Meanwhile, the trial of Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objector Dmitry Smyk is set to resume on 6 November. Also, a roundtable in Minsk to discuss the text of a new Religion Law proposed by human rights defenders is hoped to take place on 13 November, despite obstruction by the authorities.

Chausy District Ideology Department official Danisevich arrived at the private home accompanied by four police officers and three “witnesses” at about noon on 25 October, when about twenty church members were singing hymns, Marshalkovskaya-Grik told Forum 18 from Gorbovichi on 26 October.

The pastor complained that the Prosecutor’s warrant authorising the “inspection” gave no reason. “They came in without my permission, turning off the electricity,” she told Forum 18. “They photographed every room in the house.” She said one of the rooms in the house was locked and she did not have the key, but police merely broke down the door.

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