By Kester Kenn Klomegah
MOSCOW, Jan 18 2007 (IPS)

Leaders of religious groups are contesting government requirements for declaration of their funds such as those collected during church services.

The Federal Registration Service (FRS) has asked all religious organisations to declare their accounting forms by Apr. 15 or face closure. The groups must specify their activities, their administration structure, expenditures, and use of property. The FRS is also demanding submission of minutes of all parish meetings for the previous three years.

The rules are part of the contentious new law that forced all foreign non-governmental organisations to re-register with the FRS October last year.

“I am not surprised by any move the Russian government makes to make life harder for religious organisations,” spokesman for the Moscow International Christian Assembly Pastor Ken Buller told IPS. “Though the law clearly gives religious freedom to Russians, it is observed and interpreted differently by which city you reside in.”

Buller said there was one law for some churches, another for the Orthodox church. “There needs to be equality for all churches. All churches need to be allowed to acquire property for facilities within the city limits. If we are required to pay taxes, yet are not allowed the same benefits as the Orthodox, then I have issues with this.”

Several religious leaders say that the new accounting rules violate the law of freedom of conscience and religion. They say it is nearly impossible to comply with the required paperwork.

“Analysing the measures taken by the authorities to put limitations on NGOs can only be seen as an attempt to go back to communism by means of these oppressive measures and laws, which are based on fear,” founder and leader of The Embassy of the Blessed Kingdom of God for All Nations, Pastor Sunday Adelaja told IPS in an emailed comment. “The Russian authorities are afraid of political opposition, and thereby want to restrict people’s freedom.”

Religious organisations are being asked to submit financial documents to the Justice Ministry in an attempt to clamp down on churches and take away the freedom that came after the collapse of communism, Adelaja said.

“This is not something that is done in any other country of the world – even the communist government didn’t make such demands. They only disallowed the collection of funds,” Pastor Adelaja said.

Vladimir Ryakhovsky, one of the country’s top lawyers on religious issues, said it would be “physically impossible” for religious organisations to comply with the new rules, and predicted “big problems” for many organisations come April.

“The biggest problem will be that organisations the powers-that-be want to strangle out of existence will be targeted for their lack of compliance,” Ryakhovsky said.

Aleksey Zhafyarov, spokesman for the Federal Registration Service’s department for religious organisations told IPS that “the registration process for all non-governmental organisations will continue to be accepted as set forth in regulations, and that should necessarily include financial documents to ascertain the sources of funding.”

“It’s important to know how genuine the organisations we register are, and have an insight into what specific activities they want to engage in and how these are financed. Our job is simply to implement the laws,” he said.

Critics argue that the measure would cripple Russia’s fledgling civil society. They say the move reflects Russia’s growing trend toward authoritarianism. Several organisations were denied registration under the new law, they say.

The church and the state are separate in the Russian Federation. Under the constitution the Russian Federation is a secular state, and given that, the state should not get involved in church activities, critics say.

“If religious organisations start submitting financial documents, it will start violating the trust of its parishioners,” Nigina Malikova, chairperson for the Initiative Group of Independent Human Rights Protectors told IPS.

“As a parishioner of a certain church or mosque or synagogue, you go to confession. It is a private confession that the priest alone knows about. It is confidential. It is the same with the money that parishioners donate. It is done as part of sacrifice or donation, and it usually done in confidentiality.”

The Russian Orthodox Church has repeatedly suggested that a number of provisions of the law on non-governmental organisations be amended.

“The matter does not involve attempts to conceal finances, but regards a number of the law’s provisions that, with all due respect, are impossible to observe,” it said in a statement.

“I think we should not resume the malpractice of the Soviet era when every step of a religious organisation was controlled by the government, the text of the sermon was verified, and the state kept an eye on every religious document,” Moscow Patriarchate legal expert Ksenia Chernega told the daily newspaper Kommersant.

Heads of five Protestant organisations asked First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev early December to review reporting forms, Chernega said. He added that the Moscow Patriarchate was drawing up another appeal to the government to reconsider its decision.

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