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On the night of 15-16 of October, Belorussian border authorities at the airport of capital Minsk, detained and deported a well-known Christian minister, Bishop Benjamin Brukh (pictured on the left). The detention and the deportation were done without explanation of any reasons. Benjamin Brukh is a protestant bishop and a pastor, who is well-known as a minister in Belarus. He is the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ in Minsk, one of the largest protestant religious communities in Belarus. He served as the pastor of this church during 1991-2002.

Borys Chernoglaz, the senior pastor of the Full Gospel Church of Jesus Christ, expressed his concerns: “While the European Union has lifted the visa ban on high-ranking Belorussian officials, the person who has contributed quite a lot to the spiritual development of the nation is not permitted entry into the country. I do not understand why without presenting any explanations Bishop Benjamin Brukh was not admitted into Belarus. In the last few years he has entered the country many times, he has never violate any laws, and there were not any claims against him. On this night he was detained and taken into the custody as a criminal”.

Benjamin Brukh is a citizen of Ukraine. During the time of his ministry in Belarus, his church and he personally have done a lot work in the spiritual and social spheres.
In the last years he has been in Belarus on numerous occasions, as well as for a longer period of time, in compliance with the procedures established by the legislation of the republic of Belarus.

“We will make our utmost efforts to receive official explanation on Benjamin Brukh's deportation from Belarusian state authoritities' . In any case, it's obvious that in this situation his basic human rights were violated, the rights of a protestant pastor in particular, and the image of our country is once again seriously damaged”, lawyer and human rights consultant Sergei Shavtsov said.

Source: The Belarus-based Christian Human Rights House