Baptists detained as evangelistic meetings begin (05/16/99)

Baptists detained as evangelistic meetings begin

Keston News Service

KESTON England - Three preachers of the Baptist Church in Ukraine have been detained and imprisoned for a 10-day period, the U.S.-based Russian Evangelistic Ministries reported.

"Following the rehabilitation of Christian prisoners in the late 1980s, this is the first instance of imprisonment solely for Christian activity in Ukraine," the mission added. The three, Pavel Sitkovsky, Nikolai Burlaka and Grigori Safronov, were arrested in the town of Kehychivka in eastern Ukraine's Kharkiv region on May 4 as an evangelistic tent mission was beginning.

All three were then reportedly sentenced to 10 days' imprisonment, presumably under the Ukrainian Administrative Code, although it remains unclear on what charge. The men's relatives have been denied access to them and are therefore unable to ascertain the reason for their arrest and imprisonment, or whether they have also been fined. However, it is known that the three have gone on hunger strike. The authorities are reportedly waiting for an Orthodox priest to speak with the prisoners.

Two of the three are ministers and one is a layman; all belong to Baptist Churches that rejected state registration during the Soviet period. Mr. Sitkovsky is pastor of the church in Krasnohrad, while Mr. Burlaka is pastor in Merefa, both in the Kharkiv region of eastern Ukraine. Mr. Safronov is a lay preacher.

These arrests are the first that the Baptists have suffered in Ukraine since the end of the persecution of congregations belonging to the unregistered Council of Churches during the tenure of Mikhail Gorbachev. Baptists in Ukraine are reported to be concerned that this might be a response to the start of the evangelistic campaign, which begins in tent missions in the spring as warmer weather arrives. "Over all, there have been no problems in the area," Russian Evangelistic Ministries told Keston. "What troubles evangelists is that this was done at the beginning of the evangelistic season."

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