At least 35 religious organizations were forcibly dissolved in Belarus in September this year.

This is according to data from monitoring by the Christian Vision human rights organization.

The organization notes that, following the completion of mandatory re-registration, 20 parishes in the Mahilyow Region and 15 in the Brest Region were forcibly dissolved. Protestant communities accounted for the largest number among them: 8 Pentecostal, 7 Baptist, 3 Full Gospel Christian communities, and 2 Lutheran communities. Six Orthodox, 3 Greek Catholic, and 2 Roman Catholic parishes were also dissolved.

The list also included an Armenian Apostolic community, a Jewish community, a Church of Christ community, and a community of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

“Under an authoritarian regime, a system for regulating the religious sphere has emerged that results in regular state interference in the personnel policies and autonomy of religious organizations, which are protected by the right to freedom of religion and belief. The re-registration process has become one of the means of persecuting religious organizations, and the authorities have still not officially announced its results,” Christian Vision notes.

Earlier, we reported that the number of religious communities in Belarus had declined following re-registration under the new legislation. In the Mahilyow Region, half of the Catholic parishes ceased operating after re-registration. In the Vitsyebsk Region, 85 Roman Catholic communities remained, down from 94 previously, while in the Brest Region there were 60, down from 66.

As LF reported, four of the 16 Greek Catholic (Uniate) parishes previously registered in Belarus failed to complete mandatory re-registration. These were communities in Brest, Baranavichy, Ivatsevichy (all in the Brest Region), and Orsha.

Earlier, we reported that the authorities in the Brest Region dissolved all parishes of the Greek Catholic Church. The court ruling cites an alleged “threat to national interests.”