Center for Civil Society International ([email protected])
Sun, 22 Nov 1998 14:46:08 -0800 (PST)
Center for Civil Society International received the following message from
Lauren Homer of the Law and Liberty Trust, forwarding a statement by the
Keston Institute on the Starovoitova murder.
November 21, 1998
In light of the seriousness of the following, I am taking the liberty of
forwarding a copy of the most recent message from Keston
Institute--Moscow's Larry Uzzell.
I met Galina during an investigation of the unexplained death of another
St. Petersburg Deputy, Vitaly Savitsky, a dear friend of mine and the
head of the Duma's Committee on Public and Religious Organizations who
died in a car crash that appeared to have been intentional on the eve of
the 1995 parliamentary elections. This shocking murder of a person
devoted to religious freedom is an extremely ominous sign for the future
of religious freedom and democracy in Russia.
Please join me in prayer for the repose of her soul and for the safety of
the many others devoted to the cause of religious freedom in Russia.
Lauren B. Homer, President
Law and Liberty Trust
333 Maple Avenue East, Suite 1085
Vienna, VA 22180 U.S.A.
703-319-3646 (Tel.); 703-319-3625 (Fax)
E-mail Address: [email protected]
[email protected]
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DEFENDER OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM SLAIN IN ST PETERSBURG
by Lawrence A. Uzzell, Keston Institute
Galina Starovoitova was not a religious believer, and she was better known
both at home and abroad as an expert on Russia's ethnic minorities than as
a defender of religious freedom. But she never wavered in her defence of
the basic human rights even of Russia's most unpopular minorities. In
mid-1997, when the law restoring state control over religious life was
being railroaded through parliament, she was more active in opposition
than any other member of the Duma's committee on religion except its
deputy chairman Valery Borshchov.
She had a keen eye for the absurdities of such authoritarian proposals; I
recall how she pointed out that this measure supposedly defending Russia's
'traditional' religions would especially threaten the ancient customs of
small pagan minorities in the far north, and how she emphasised that the
rights which the Moscow Patriarchate was seeking to take away from
minority congregations in Russia are rights which it claims for its own
parishes in countries like Britain and America. Though she was one of the
few members of parliament with an international reputation outside
politics as a scholar, she was also one of Russia's most unpretentious and
down-to-earth politicians. I remember visiting her flat in 1994 and being
treated to a dinner which she insisted on preparing herself, without help.
At about midnight between 20 and 21 November, Galina Vasilevna
Starovoitova was slain by automatic-weapons fire at the entrance to the
block of flats where she lived in St Petersburg. Her part-time aide
Ruslan Linkov, a young St Petersburg journalist, was wounded. Sources
close to her believe that the murder was a political assassination.
'Thou art the God who didst descend into hell and loose the bonds of the
captives. Do thou give rest also to the soul of thy servant Galina.'
(END)
Moscow bureau, Keston Institute
Phone/fax (7-095) 290-0327
Oxford, England, office: <[email protected]>
VISIT OUR WEBSITE at www.keston.org
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