Smila authorities dispersed a Baptist festival

January 25, 2014 · Adam Bondaruk, Baptists, Victor Belykh, AUCECB, Persecution, Interview, KGB, Books, Unregistered Pentecostals, Nikolay Kotyakov, On Emigration, United Church of Evangelical Christians, Vestibule, Petr Saenko, Pentecostals, Religious Mafia, Slavik Radchuk, Contemporary Persecution, Security Services

The festival “God Is Always Near” in the city of Smila, Cherkasy Oblast, had been planned for several months. The ideologist and main organizer was Pastor Valeriy Belyayev. An application was submitted to the city council requesting permission to hold the Christian festival “God Is Always Near” in the city. The authorities signed the application but did not allow it to take place.

As reported by the press service of the AUC ECB, the event was planned as a large-scale evangelization. The organizers invited American evangelist Don Betts, the choir of the Cherkasy Baptist Church, and musical groups. The city prepared for the festival in advance—advertising, invitations were distributed, and posters were put up. For such a small town (about 70,000 residents), this was a big event.

On Sunday, January 23, 2011, at 3:00 p.m., about 700 people gathered at the central House of Culture. But it turned out that the entrance to the hall was closed, so people had to crowd in the lobby. The director of the House of Culture disappeared somewhere, and no city official answered phone calls.

At about 3:30 p.m., the deputy mayor arrived accompanied by a police detachment and banned the festival, justifying the authorities’ decision by saying that the venue did not meet certain requirements.

His statement sparked outrage among Smila residents. But the festival organizers were forced to stop the program.
According to the press service of the AUC ECB, on Friday, two days before the event, at a session of the Smila City Council, the head of the ruling faction issued an ultimatum, stating that he was “ready to fire a bunch of people if this event takes place in Smila.”

Today, representatives of Baptist churches and the festival organizers are waiting for the reaction of the media and the public to this event.

This is not the first scandalous incident on religious grounds in Smila. As RISU previously reported, on the night of January 11–12, a group of unknown persons attacked the Christian rehabilitation center “Revival,” which operates under the Protestant Church “Light of Life” in Smila.

And on the night of December 18–19, in Smila, unknown persons attacked the premises of the Church of the Nativity of John the Baptist of the UAOC.

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