This is a part of a report published yesterday, 20 December 2016, in Forum 18 (a well known Norwegian human rights organization that promotes religious freedom) which is entitled: “RUSSIA: Inconsistency of “anti-missionary” punishments”
Recently, also, it was shown, in a large national TV channel, a long video, characterizing the devotees of Krishna as members of a dangerous sect and enemies of the Russian people with the result that several devotees, next several days, while engaged in book distribution, to get violently attacked and had their books taken and destroyed.
The report starts as follows: As prosecutions continue across Russia under punishments for sharing beliefs (commonly called the “law on missionary activity”) which came into force in July, confusion and inconsistency persist. A wide range of incidents has resulted in charges against individuals over the first five months, from holding a rap concert for young people, to handing out New Testaments on a train, to having a brief conversation in the stairwell of a block of flats. This leaves it still unclear what exactly sharing beliefs or so-called “missionary activity” may be.
It is a very detailed and informative report, you can read it here: http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2242
Here is republished the part of the article which regards the devotees.
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2016 changes interact with earlier laws
The multiple prosecutions of Hare Krishna devotee Andrei Puchkov in Tver illustrate the contradiction and confusion which persist in the implementation of these legal changes, several months after they came into force, as well as the way in which they can interact with earlier laws, specifically Administrative Code Article 20.2 (“Violation of the established procedure for organising or conducting a gathering, meeting, demonstration, procession or picket”).
In 2015 the non-state approved sharing of beliefs made up a quarter of prosecutions under Administrative Code Article 20.2 related to the holding of public events. Forum 18 found 119 individuals and 3 religious organisations prosecuted, a sharp rise on 2014. Initial punishments were 80 fines, 2 short-term jailings and one community service term (see F18News 18 May 2016 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2179).
The first investigation of Puchkov resulted in one charge under Article 5.26, Part 4 (“Russians conducting ‘missionary activity'”), and another under Article 20.2, Part 1. This led prosecutors to the worrying conclusion that “all Krishnaite events” are “religious, missionary acts”. Soon afterwards, prosecutors charged Puchkov for a second time under Part 4, basing the charges on an “expert report” drawn up before the event Puchkov had organised had even taken place.
Krishna Procession – first Puchkov prosecution both 5.26 and 20.2
Puchkov was first prosecuted in relation to a procession through the streets of Tver. He had submitted the required notification to the local authorities, and the event, which involved music, chanting, and dancing, passed off without incident on 2 October.
On 21 October, however, Central District Prosecutor’s Office accused Puchkov of “carrying out illegal missionary activity under the guise of an agreed public event”, according to a document seen by Forum 18. He was charged under Article 5.26, Part 4 (“Russians conducting ‘missionary activity'”), for not having the necessary documents from a religious organisation or group. According to the Prosecutor’s Office document, the Society for Krishna Consciousness has neither a registered local organisation in Tver nor a religious group which has submitted notification of its existence to the Justice Ministry.
Changes to the Religion Law in 2015 abolished the previous freedom for religious groups to operate without notifying the authorities of their existence, and required all religious communities that do not have legal status to notify the authorities of their existence and activity. This includes providing names and addresses of all their members and addresses where any meeting takes place (see F18News 17 September 2015 http://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2101).
Puchkov was also charged under Article 20.2, Part 1 (“Violation of the established procedure for organising or conducting a gathering, meeting, demonstration, procession or picket”), for violating the “established order” of a public event by carrying out “missionary activity” rather than the “festival of Indian culture” about which he had notified the local authorities.
The Article 5.26 case was submitted to Central District Magistrate’s Court No. 2. After several postponed hearings, Judge Natalya Smirnova found Puchkov guilty and fined him 5,000 Roubles on 14 December. He intends to appeal against this verdict, his lawyer Mikhail Frolov told Forum 18 on 16 December. The case against him under Article 20.2 is still underway before Judge Olga Baranova at Central District Court, with the next hearing due on 23 December.
Before Puchkov’s conviction, Frolov told Forum 18 on 7 December that his client had been playing an Indian drum in the procession and had not spoken to anyone. Video footage of the event, seen by the court, showed people only singing Vedic mantras, not engaging in conversation with passers-by and not distributing literature.
“No words were used apart from Hare, Krishna, Rama,” Frolov insisted. “This was a public act of worship which was not missionary activity, since no information about beliefs was disseminated and nobody involved anybody else in the religious association.”
Documents in the case seen by Forum 18 appear to show that the absence of verbal interaction and religious literature had little bearing on the decision to bring charges. Prosecutors cite as their grounds for prosecution an 11 October “expert report” by Anatoly Gurin, a theology lecturer at Tver State University, and Andrei Bezrukov, the director of the university’s theology students’ society. Their conclusion that the event constituted “missionary activity” is based solely on an assessment of its religious character and the fact that it took place in public.
The local Hare Krishna VKontakte group and its members described the procession as “harinama” (the congregational chanting of the names of God, according to the Society for Krishna Consciousness). Gurin and Bezrukov also note that the event involved the distribution of “prasada” (religious offerings of food normally consumed after worship). The sole source materials for their analysis were VKontakte posts and definitions of terms from Hare Krishna websites. Neither Gurin nor Bezrukov attended the procession – they were called upon, as Frolov put it to Forum 18, “to assess that which they did not see”.
From these attributes, Gurin and Bezrukov conclude that “it is possible to assert that the Tver Krishnaites’ event was missionary activity in both form and content, and had as its goal the involvement of new participants in their movement, and also the familiarisation of the citizens of Tver with the teachings of Krishnaism. [..] It is also important to note that all Krishnaite events, under whatever slogans they are conducted – ‘Procession-carnival’, ‘Festival of Indian dance’, etc. – are religious, missionary acts.”
This last assertion – that all Hare Krishna events are “missionary activity” – is quoted by the prosecutor’s office in its document charging Puchkov on 21 October, and also forms the basis for his later prosecution. “This is a new invention of the Tver prosecutors,” Frolov observed to Forum 18. “In my experience, it is the first such [interpretation] .. Pay attention to the “experts'” logic – if ‘Krishnaite’, then it is ritual activity [kultovoye]. If ritual activity, then it is missionary activity. And there is no analysis and research.”
Mantra Yoga concert – second Puchkov prosecution 5.26 alone
Puchkov was charged for the second time under Article 5.26, Part 4 (“Russians conducting ‘missionary activity'”), for organising a concert of Vedic chanting and music in “closed premises” inside an entertainment centre. Although open to all, according to advertisements on VKontakte, this was a ticketed event and not audible or visible to the general public.
Although prosecutors issued the charges on 24 October, the day after the concert was held on 23 October, these were based on an “expert report” (again by Gurin and Bezrukov, accompanied by Svetlana Gorshkova, Tver University’s head of theology) which had been produced on 20 October, before the event had even taken place, and which again was based solely on VKontakte posts.
“According to the 20 October conclusion of the “experts”, this concert, by form and content, is an event which members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness are planning to conduct in Tver”, the prosecutor’s office document charging Puchkov reads. “The external form of this ‘concert’ shows that a religious action is taking place, to which are invited all who wish to come, including non-members of the Society for Krishna Consciousness. This event fits the definition of missionary activity.” It also notes the “experts'” previous conclusion that “all Krishnaite events .. are religious, missionary acts”.
The Central District Prosecutor’s Office issued a warning (predosterezheniye) to Puchkov on 21 October, seen by Forum 18, noting that “the planned event of 23 October corresponds to the definition of missionary activity” in the Religion Law, that those engaging in “missionary activity” on behalf of a religious group must have the necessary documents, and that no religious group of the Society of Krishna Consciousness had notified the Justice Ministry of its existence in Tver.
According to Puchkov’s lawyer Frolov, Puchkov went on stage at the concert (which was attended by prosecutor’s office staff, who took photographs), declared that it was not “missionary activity”, and warned the attendees not to proselytise. “Of course”, Frolov added, Puchkov had also obtained written authorisation from the Society for Krishna Consciousness. “He did everything he could think of to fulfil legal requirements. Simultaneously, he tried to show that the event was not missionary activity, but just in case, he also had the authorisation required by the law.”
Frolov remains hopeful that the case will be resolved in Puchkov’s favour. In hearings which have taken place so far, he said, “The court could not understand how it is possible to carry out analysis and evaluate the actions of a citizen which he has not yet committed”. Proceedings are underway at Proletarian District Magistrate’s Court No. 5 before Judge Olga Gagloyeva. A hearing took place on 20 December and is due to resume on the afternoon of 28 December, the Court told Forum 18 on 20 December. Only two of three “experts” summoned to the court were present, Frolov told Forum 18.
On 19 December, Forum 18 called the Regional Prosecutor’s Office, which has taken control of the case, to ask why Puchkov’s actions were considered “missionary activity”, whether all Hare Krishna events would now be considered “missionary activity”, and whether events held by any other religious association would also be treated as such. A press service spokesperson directed Forum 18 back to the Central District Prosecutor’s Office, but a spokesperson there would neither answer questions by telephone nor accept them by email.
Forum 18 notes that none of the “experts” who provided analysis in these two cases appears to have any specialist knowledge of Hare Krishna beliefs and practices. Anatoly Gurin is an education specialist who has published on Orthodox pedagogics, Islamic culture, and Russian as a foreign language, but apparently not on Krishnaism, Hinduism, or any other Eastern religion. Svetlana Gorshkova specialises in Orthodox pedagogics, Orthodox culture, and children’s literature, and has published on educational theory and history, but likewise not on Krishnaism or Hinduism.
Forum 18 called Tver State University theology department on 19 December, but neither Gurin nor Gorshkova was available.
Andrei Bezrukov, a fifth-year distance-learning student, has held seminars on “missionary activity”, “destructive sects”, and “personal religious security”. On 28 November, he participated in the “Patrol Service” crime programme on the local Tverskoi Prospekt TV channel (seen by Forum 18). Apparently speaking from the magistrate’s court, he said that Krishna devotees “want to sing mantras before the eyes of Tver citizens”, and that according to the law, “it is already forbidden in Russia to talk about any god in the streets and in homes – only with the permission of the state, which registers and gives permits for such activity”.
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