Christian missionary may get Russia’s anti-evangelism law overturned
Baptist missionary Don Ossewaarde was hosting a weekly Bible Study one Sunday morning in August when three policemen barged into his home in Russia.
Ossewaarde, from Illinois, was charged with conducting missionary activities in violation of a new anti-evangelism law that took effect on July 20, 2016.
He’s since appealed his case three times and earned the ear of Russia’s Supreme Court.
Ossewaarde’s attorneys hope the case will be heard in coming months, and he also plans to appeal to the Constitutional Court.
“This makes Ossewaarde’s case the first under the ‘anti-missionary’ amendment to reach this level in the Russian courts, and the first to issue a challenge to the legislation itself,” Forum 18 reported. “The Constitutional Court, if it accepts the appeal, will examine whether the amendment contravenes the provisions of the Russian Constitution.”
In the time since Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the “Yarovaya law,” named for bill coauthor Irina Yarovaya, 32 people have been prosecuted.
Ossewaarde was charged on Aug. 14, 2016 under the new religion law for advertising religious services on bulletin boards, hosting religious services in his home and failing to give authorities written notification when he began his religious activities.
“At (the first) court hearing, I was found guilty and sentenced to pay a fine of 40,000 rubles, which is over $600,” Ossewaarde wrote.
His conviction was upheld Sept. 30 on appeal.
The Yarovaya law limits religious activity to registered church buildings, requires missionaries to have permits and bans house churches.
According to the law, missionaries must operate as official representatives of state-recognized religious associations.
The law is unclear, though, about its definition of religious activity, such as hosting a Bible study or individual interactions.
“Whether such cases end in conviction or acquittal appears to rest on, firstly, the ability of police or prosecutors to link the defendant with a particular association, and secondly, whether the judge decides to uphold an individual’s constitutional right to share beliefs as a private citizen,” Victoria Arnold reported for Forum 18.
Ossewaarde, an independent missionary who established his work in Russia in 2002, was forced to end his ministry in the months after his arrest.
But he’s not done fighting his conviction.
“There’s different ways we could continue the ministry and that is going to depend on how the court rules,” he told the Baptist Press. “We’re hoping the court overturns all of the charges, which could mean we could go back to the same type of house church services that we were doing.”
Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 10:53 a.m.
