Last days of July brought another court decision in the criminal case against Rev. A. Semchenko. The text of the decision contains a novelty.
Previously the prosecutors were careful not to mention in official documents his religious affiliation and status, insisting that the charges against him had nothing to do with his religious activity, but only with his construction business. They always denied that the real reason for persecuting Rev. Semchenko was the displeasure of the Russian Orthodox Church with some of his activities.
Formally, the latest decision concerns only the question whether to extend his ‘detention measure’ which presently is a house arrest. But the text does not simply copy that of previous court decisions, as was expected. The personal data of the accused now describes Rev. Semchenko not as “the President of the Teplotechnic Construction Company”, but rather as “the President of the Union of Evangelistic (sic!, rather than Evangelical) Christians” and “a member of the Council on Interaction with Religious Organizations in the Office of the President of Russia”.
Rev. Paul Kolesnikov pastors one of the Protestant churches in Moscow area and serves as the head of the Council of the Union of Evangelical Christians. He comments: “We do not know the real meaning of this change, for they never reveal their real reasons. This may, however, serve as a warning to all religious activists in the country (for Rev. Semchenko is a well known leader of the Protestant movement of Russia) that one should be careful not to displease the Russian Orthodox Church, or else some grounds for prosecuting you can always be found. So much for religious freedom in Russia.”
