US religious workers held for teaching English

MINSK (BELARUS): Belarusian police detained and fined a group of 10 US religious workers for teaching English in the former Soviet republic.

All are retirees from the US state Missouri, who had travelled to the Belarusian city Mogilev as part of a humanitarian aid programme partially financed by their church, and partially from their own funds, the Belapan news agency reported on Thursday.

They had been teaching English for free to Mogilev citizens as workers for a Belarusian branch of Stefanus, an international social assistance organisation.
 
The Emmanuil church, an evangelical Baptist group in Mogilev, had been the site of the classes, and a Belarusian partner with the Stefanus group.
 
The church among other aid activities ran a training programme called 'English for Every One,' aimed at giving a basic understanding of English to students.
 
Promotion of religion by foreigners is banned by Belarusian law. International evangelical Christian groups sometimes bypass the rule by setting up churches, and then asserting the church is run by Belarusians not foreigners.