RUSSIAN ORTHODOX BANNED FROM SEVASTOPOL TV

Sevastopol Town Hall rejected the request for TV air time by a Russian Orthodox association. The Union of Orthodox citizens planned to hold an on-air forum to discuss recent takeovers of churches by splinter religious groups and attacks on believers during the Way of the Cross processions. Director of the regional TV network in Sevastopol Alexander Skripnichenko said that such public discussions may stir up religious hatred. He said he is ready to return to the Union of Orthodox citizens money paid for air-time. It is a second attempt by orthodox believers in Sevastopol to get access to TV to air their point of view in religious disputes in the Crimea. The first application had also been rejected.
Tavrichesky Kurier, February 25, 2006, www.freecrimea.org