Two months after Russia’s so-called “anti-missionary law” came into effect, an American missionary who lost his appeal, after being one of the first convicted under the law, says it is his “duty” to “press the case as far as I can”.
Don Ossewaarde, who has lived in Oryol (about 350 kilometres south of Moscow) with his wife Ruth for 14 years, was fined 40,000 roubles ($US640) for holding religious services at home and allegedly advertising them on the bulletin boards of nearby housing blocks.
The Ossewaardes received a visit from three police officers on the morning of Sunday, 14th August, as they conducted a service. They requested that the police waited until the service had finished, after which they were driven to the local police station. Mr Ossewaarde was then charged and taken straight to court. He was declared “guilty” two hours later and fined.
After his appeal was rejected this week, he wrote an update on the couple’s blog: “Obviously, this is a disappointment. I was hoping to wrap things up here and return to my family as soon as possible [his wife has returned to America], but the issue is an important one, and duty demands that I press the case as far as I can.
“I assured [my lawyer] that I would keep pressing the appeal all the way to the highest court, and he assured me that this case will play an important role in determining the future of religious freedom in Russia, not just for foreign missionaries, but also for ordinary Russian believers.”
The judge said Mr Ossewaarde’s guilt was “fully proven, since he carried out missionary activity without submitting prior notice in writing of the beginning of the religious group’s activity”. But Mr Ossewaarde says he isn’t part of a religious group, while the law allows for “worship services, religious rites and ceremonies” to be conducted at home. He also denies advertising the meetings on bulletin boards and says he only gave out leaflets by hand.
Mr Ossewaarde added that his court-appointed lawyer had advised the couple to leave Oryol “because anything might happen to him and his family”.
The Ossewaardes are not the only Christians to have fallen foul of the new law, more commonly known as the “Yarovaya” Law (the name of one of its authors), which was formally introduced as an “anti-terrorism” measure, allowing the government to monitor extremist groups.
As World Watch Monitor has previously reported, however, its impact was always likely to be felt by Russia’s Christians – particularly missionaries, who now need a permit, and the so-called “house churches”, which, as the Ossewaardes’ case shows, are now illegal because religious activity is only allowed to take place inside registered buildings, such as churches.
