Russia Court Bans Religous Group By NICK WADHAMS .c The Associated Press MOSCOW (AP) -- A Russian court has used a controversial religion law to ban the Pentecostalist Church from a town in eastern Siberia, a news report said today. Under Russian law, courts have the right to outlaw religious groups that are found to be inciting hatred or intolerant behavior. The law has been used against several groups recently. A judge in the Siberian town of Aldan ruled Tuesday that the Pentecostalists had violated the law because they refused medical aid for ailing members of the group. The court also said the Pentecostalists had preached intolerance by teaching their children at home, the ITAR-Tass news agency said. The religion law, passed in 1997, recognizes the Russian Orthodox Church as the nation's leading faith and pledges to respect Islam, Judaism and Buddhism. But other denominations face a host of restrictions and have to prove they've had a presence in Russia for at least 15 years before they're permitted full legal status. The court's ruling came at a time when the city and the Pentecostalists were involved in another confrontation in Aldan, about 3,000 miles east of Moscow. A group of 60 Pentecostalists took over the city's administration building Sunday and demanded that the city pay them for work they performed when severe flooding hit the region last spring, ITAR-Tass said. City leaders say they repaid the church members with food, clothing and fuel. Authorities removed the Pentecostalists from the building today, taking the women and children to a hospital, while the men were placed in a detention center, the Interfax news agency said. Human rights groups have protested Russia's religion law as a violation of the Russian constitution, which permits freedom of religion. However, authorities have acted against several religious groups recently. Last month, 400 Pentecostalists in the eastern coastal city of Magadan applied for asylum in the United States after alleging they were harassed by local officials. In other high-profile cases, prosecutors in Moscow are seeking to ban the Jehovah's Witnesses from the Russian capital in a trial that currently underway. And tax police last week raided the Moscow offices of the Church of Scientology, confiscating documents and questioning leaders.
