U.S. State Department accuses Russia of religious freedom restrictions

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. Department of State has issued its July-December, 2010 International Religious Freedom Report detailing violations of religious freedom around the world. The list of countries has remained unchanged since 2009 while ten countries, including Afghanistan, Egypt, Pakistan and Russia were cited for failing to sufficiently protect religious rights.

“Religious minorities, in particular Muslim followers of Turkish theologian Said Nursi's work, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Scientologists, faced bans on their religious literature and difficulties registering their legal entities,” says the report on Russia.

“The government's level of respect for religious freedom in law and in practice declined with respect to some minority denominations during the reporting period; the government began bringing criminal cases for the first time against individuals in possession of banned religious literature or who were associated with an illegal religious group.”