American minister arrested in Russia for holding Bible studies

Baptist minister Donald Ossewaarde was one of the first to be arrested because of Russia's law against evangelism. Ossewaarde was accused of illegal missionary activity for holding Bible study meetings at his home in the city of Oryol.

Ossewarde was found guilty and ordered to pay a fine of 40,000 rubles on Aug. 14. The court did not give his lawyers enough time to arrive from Moscow, according to an email from his attorneys. He was then advised by the state-provided lawyer to pay the fine and not appeal his case.

"The problem is not the fine, which is about $700, but the fact that the court decided that Donald's exercise of his right to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ according to his beliefs is an illegal action," they said in the email.

Ossewarde believes that the case against him was an improper application of the law and intends to fight it. Ossewarde sent his family back to the U.S. but he remained in Russia to appeal the case. His lawyers, Vladimir Ryakhovsky and Konstantin Andreev, are optimistic about the outcome.

Ossewarde urged the Christian community to spread his story.

"I would ask all of my friends to think about how you might help to spread this story. After the appeals hearing, we can give more details to the media, but for now we will try to get the story out in this form," he said in a statement.

Ossewarde contacted several media outlets that have previously reported about Russia's law against evangelism. He hopes that the publicity will keep him safe and pressure the court to drop the case against him.

Forum 18 reported that there are four other individuals who were charged under the law against evangelism. Aleksei Telius, arrested on July 22, was fined 5,000 rubles. Ebenezer Tuah, arrested on July 31, was fined 50,000 rubles. Vadim Sibiryev, a Hare Krishna arrested on July 28, was acquitted. Aleksandr Yakimov, arrested on Aug. 5, is currently awaiting trial.