
Just weeks after prosecutors in two Russian cities started investigations against Jehovah's Witnesses using anti-extremism laws, prosecutors in Moscow issued a warning to a Baptist congregation for unspecified "extremist activity" according to a July 29, 2008 report by the religious freedom NGO the Slavic Law Center. Prosecutors from the Perovsky District of Moscow issued the warning on July 25 to the Novogireevo church, a congregation of around 250 people that was founded in 1991. Pastor Pyotr Sautov told the Slavic Law Center that prosecutors offered no details about what the extremism charges are based on, which is a violation of the law, nor have his subsequent inquiries received any answers. The congregation can now be disbanded if prosecutors choose to bring additional charges of "extremism" within a year of the first warning.
Meanwhile in a possibly unrelated development, a district government body in the Moscow region has denied Baptists the right to hold a congress in the Istrinsky district, according to a July 29, 2008 report by the news web site Gazeta.ru. The congress was planned for July 31-August 4 at the Rucheek children's camp, but the Istrinsky district government banned it, citing concerns that the camp only holds 300 people, while the Baptists plan to bring 3,000. While this may be a legitimate reason, violations of safety and fire codes have been spuriously used in the past to prevent meetings by Jehovah's Witnesses and other minority Christians. Adding to the suspicious nature of the ban, an anonymous source within a local law enforcement agency was quoted in the report ominously warning that, "During the conference various conflicts and uncontrolled situations could break out."
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