December 12, 2015
Ukraine: Christians threatened with firing squads and pastors held hostage
Lucinda Borkett-Jones Christian Today Features Editor
03 October 2014
Reports of rebels threatening churches with firing squads, storming church services and holding pastors hostage are just some of the stories that have emerged from rebel-held regions of eastern Ukraine in recent months.
The threat to Ukraine's evangelical churches is a lesser-known aspect of the ongoing political struggle between the pro-Russian separatists and the Ukrainian government in Kiev. A fragile ceasefire was agreed on September 5, though this week the rebels have resumed attacks on Donetsk airport, a key site in the conflict, and yesterday a Red Cross aid worker was killed by shelling in Donetsk.
On Saturday, Seventh Day Adventist minister Sergei Litovchenko was abducted by pro-Russian gunmen during a church service in Horlivka, in the Donetsk region. This is just one of many reports of infringements on religious practice within the rebel-controlled eastern regions – areas now known as the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People's Republic (LPR).
The Institute for Religious Freedom (IRF), based in Kiev, has recorded numerous incidents of religious persecution that took place in June and July. In August, Human Rights Watch reported several cases of arbitrary detention and torture, which had been largely overlooked by the media.
In June, the IRF reported that gunmen, under the command of rebel leader Igor Girkin, captured four men from Transfiguration Evangelical Church in Sloviansk, Donetsk. The town's deputy prosecutor, who managed to escape from DPR detention, said the men had been tortured and then shot. A Ukrainian government advisor said the men had been buried in a mass grave.
Over the summer numerous churches in Donetsk had their buildings looted and occupied by pro-Russian militants.
On June 19 armed guards stormed into Word of Life Evangelical Church in Torez, Donetsk. "They ordered us to take the furniture and get out, insisting that these churches are sects and they will be destroyed. The people in the building were threatened with a firing squad if they made a fuss about the incident," pastor Segiv Kosiak told IRF.
In July the Donetsk Christian University was seized, with militants saying (according to the IRF): "Due to the military situation in the city, the Donetsk Christian University will be made available to military units of the DNR, including all property, equipment, and other supplies and those who do not obey will face court-martial."
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