E/CN.4/1999/58 page 18 of his religious belief. Pursuant to the Act of 1997 on Freedom of Religion and Belief, members of communities which did not officially exist in the Russian Federation during the past 15 years are not allowed to proselytize. Georgia 57. Jehovah's Witnesses were reportedly arrested and convicted in Abkhazia because of their objection to military service. The Armenian, Catholic and Jewish communities are said to be encountering difficulties in obtaining restitution of property confiscated under the former regime. Ghana 58. The Trokosi (“slaves of God”) tradition, according to which families offer their virgin daughters to priests in order to placate the gods for offences committed by relatives, is reportedly being used by the priests to subject girls and women to slavery, including sexual slavery. A bill introducing punishment for following this tradition is reportedly before Parliament. Greece 59. A German teacher was allegedly prosecuted for making several references to Buddhism in his classes at a private school. Proceedings were also reportedly instituted against a minister of the Greek Evangelical Church of Thessaloniki for not having an “official house of prayer license”. 60. Greece replied, in respect of the first allegation, that the German teacher had been acquitted of the charges against him by the Rodopi court of first instance, and, in respect of the second, that the Thessaloniki police department and public prosecutor's office had confirmed that no charges or proceedings had been brought against the Greek Evangelical Church minister. India 61. With regard to the situation of Christians, members of a Hindu nationalist organization in Uttar Pradesh reportedly launched a campaign of harassment against the Assembly of Church of Believers. In September 1998, four nuns belonging to the Foreign Missionary Sisters in Tamil Nadu were allegedly gang-raped. A number of Catholic and Protestant organizations complain about the growing climate of insecurity for the Christian community; for some, this situation stems from actions orchestrated by Hindu extremists. 62. On the subject of Indian women, a bill reserving seats for women in Parliament and the state assemblies reportedly failed because of opposition from Muslim representatives who justified their stand by arguments about women's place in religion. A Muslim woman who has been elected mayor of Deoband in Uttar Pradesh reportedly lost her mandate as a result of a vote of confidence called for by the representatives of an Islamic seminary. A representative of that seminary called “Dar' al Uloom” reportedly said that the vote of an unveiled Muslim woman ran counter to Islam and that biology, religion and prophecies had proven men to be superior to women.