FOR YOUR INFORMATION

December 1, 2014 | By Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett and Dr. Robert P. George 

The following op-ed appeared in The Moscow Times on November 26, 2014. The op-ed also appeared in the Kyiv Post.

Last Friday, a video deemed offensive to the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church was ruled "extremist" by a city court in Vladimir. While Alexander Soldatov — chief editor of Credo.ru, the website that posted the offending video — now could also be tried for extremism, the real defendants should be Russia's extremism law and the officials who are helping expand its reach and influence across the country.

The charge should be violating religious freedom and related rights of Russia's religious minorities or anyone who offends or competes with Russia's dominant church.

The video, which Soldatov posted last year, shows court bailiffs attempting to seize religious relics from a parish of the independent Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church and includes words that are critical of Moscow Patriarchate representatives. The Autonomous Church had been given these relics when it separated from the Moscow Patriarchate in 1988.

Russia first enacted its extremism law in 2002, partly in response to concerns about terrorism. But the law, which prescribes sanctions on those promoting the "exclusivity, superiority or inferiority of citizens" based on religion, was broadened in 2007 to include even nonviolent actors, thus reaching far beyond any fears of extremism linked to terrorism.

As of the release of this year's annual report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Russia's list of materials banned as extremist had reached 2,241 items. Merely possessing banned works can trigger fines, while the mass distribution, preparation or storage of such materials can result in a four-year prison term.

Which Russians are most affected by the extremism law? First and foremost, it is the country's Muslims, who often are wrongly labeled security threats — a serious error — which along with various forms of repression can lead to the very radicalization that officials are claiming to combat under the guise of the extremism law.

A court in 2007 banned the Russian translations of 14 Quran commentaries by Turkish theologian Said Nursi, due to his assertion of Islam's exclusivity, not because of any security threats.

Examples of other banned texts are a sermon delivered more than a century ago in 1900 by Metropolitan Sheptytsky, a candidate for Catholic sainthood; and at least 70 Jehovah's Witness texts.

In August 2013, Russia banned the entire international website of the Jehovah's Witnesses because it contained phrases from previously prohibited brochures. Examples of these phrases include "what the Bible teaches," "draw near unto Jehovah" and "come follow me."

 In early 2014, a regional court overturned this ruling, ending Russia's embarrassment of being the only nation in the world to ban the pacifist group's website.

Clearly, concerns about terrorism and other security matters don't fully explain either the content of Russia's extremism law or its application. A fuller explanation must include Russia's tendency to target groups that appear to challenge what many officials, including President Vladimir Putin, proclaim is the Moscow Patriarchate's role as sole guardian of Russia's cultural identity. Other religious groups have no place in this cultural identity, and so they are not protected.

This tendency would explain why the law allows officials to target nonviolent citizens who threaten no one. It would explain the prosecution of human rights blogger Maxim Yefimov in the Karelia region after he criticized the Moscow Patriarchate in December 2011. And of course, it would explain why Alexander Soldatov risks being prosecuted today for a video that offended the Russian Orthodox Church.

Partly because of its extremism law and its application, Russia's government remains on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom's Tier-2 list of serious violators of freedom of religion or belief.

In monitoring religious freedom abuses in various countries, the U.S. commission applies international human rights standards included in such documents as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

We are not alone in our conclusion. Based on these same standards, the European Union reiterated in March of this year its strong opposition to the extremism law. Two years ago, in June 2012, the Council of Europe's Venice Commission reached the same conclusion.

The Venice Commission — composed of independent experts on constitutional law — stated that Russia's extremism law lacked clarity, invited arbitrary application and was overly broad, thus violating international law.

Coupled with the alarming erosion of other human rights in Russia, particularly since Putin's return to the presidency, the extremism law and its chilling application raise a disturbing question.

Do fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion or belief, have a future in Russia? How Russia ultimately handles people like Soldatov and his website may help provide the answer to this question.

Katrina Lantos Swett is chairwoman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Robert P. George is a USCIRF vice chairman.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 21, 2014 | USCIRF

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemns in the strongest possible terms the despicable slaughter in a Jerusalem synagogue of four Rabbis and one police officer.  Two Palestinians armed with a gun, knives, and axes killed these Rabbis during Morning Prayer, injured several others, and killed a police officer who responded to the attack in the Kehilat Yaakov synagogue in West Jerusalem.  Three of those murdered were American and one was British.

“USCIRF joins with the President and Secretary of State in their condemnation of this attack, and with the Secretary of State’s comments that link these brutal murders to Palestinian leaders’ repeated calls for people to express their rage.  USCIRF calls on world leaders of all faiths both to condemn this vicious attack and support comprehensive education on religious tolerance, coexistence and pluralism.  Tragic crimes like this remind us of the truth of the words of my father Tom Lantos that ‘The veneer of civilization is paper thin. We are its guardians, and we can never rest,’” said USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett.

USCIRF expresses its condolences to the families of those killed in the attack and extends our prayers for a full recovery to those injured.  Targeting worshippers in a church, mosque, synagogue, temple, or any place of worship is among the most repugnant acts of terror that can take place.

To interview a USCIRF commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 20, 2014 | USCIRF

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today urged the Turkish government to reopen the Greek Orthodox Halki Seminary, the only Greek Orthodox educational institution in Turkey, which was closed 43 years ago this month.  Halki remains closed despite Turkish government officials’ promises and public statements of support for its reopening.

“The ongoing closure of Halki Seminary flies in the face of the fundamental right of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate to educate and train its clergy in Turkey so it can lead the community’s faithful around the world,” said USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett.  “We encourage the U.S. government to urge the Turkish government to publicly commit to a specific date in the immediate future to reopen Halki.” 

After a military coup in 1971, the Turkish state nationalized all private institutions of higher learning.  As a result, the Halki School of Theology, located on the island of Heybeli, was closed and remains closed to this day.

“Reopening Halki would be a significant gesture by Turkey and would send a signal to the international community that Turkey respects the freedom of religion or belief of diverse faiths,” said Lantos Swett.

“While Turkey recently has implemented some reforms, concerns remain,” continued Lantos Swett.  Reforms include returning some confiscated properties to minority religious communities, lifting the headscarf ban for women in public institutions and schools, allowing minority schools to enroll non-citizens, and revising textbooks to eliminate some religiously intolerant language.  Despite these reforms, along with the ongoing closure of Halki, other concerns include requiring that all members of the Greek Orthodox Church’s Holy Synod be citizens of Turkey; the limitations on religious communities’ rights to build, operate and maintain houses of worship and other properties; and the Alevi population’s right to operate their cemevis, which Alevi’s view as their houses of worship.

USCIRF placed Turkey on the Tier 2 list in its 2014 Annual Report, noting that the overall landscape for democracy and human rights has deteriorated significantly during the report year. 

For more information about USCIRF’s work on Turkey, please view the 2014 Annual Report here.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.