E/CN.4/2005/61/Add.1 Page 11 37. Concerning the activities of religious organizations referred to by the Special Rapporteur, the Government responded that in Apri1 2003, M. Balyk and A. Tolochko held unregistered meetings of Evangelist believers in the village of Zheludok in Shchuchino district, Grodno oblast, for which they incurred administrative penalties. However, the higher judicial bodies reversed these decisions. 38. On 23 November 2003, pastor N. Radkovich of the Pentecostal Church in Kobrin held an unregistered prayer meeting with a group of Evangelist believers in a house, thereby contravening article 193 of the Code of Administrative Offences. On 24 November 2003, the Kobrin district executive committee recommended that N. Radkovich prepare documents for the registration of the community. A letter with such request was addressed to him on 2 February 2004 by the district executive committee but no application for the registration of the community was received from N. Radkovich. 39. With regard to allegations concerning the restriction to the right to freedom of religion in human settlements where there are no registered religious communities, the Government explained that, under article 25 of the Act, religious rites, rituals and ceremonies may be held in case of need in the places of residence of citizens (including outside the area of activity of the religious communities) at their request and on condition of observing the rules of communal living and public order, if such events are not of a mass and systematic nature. The Constitution of Belarus guarantees citizens of the Republic the right independently to determine their attitude towards religion, to profess any religion individually or jointly with others, or to profess none at all, to express and spread beliefs connected with their attitude towards religion, and to participate in the performance of acts of worship and religious rituals and rites not prohibited by law. Clerics or other representatives of religious organizations are entitled, as private individuals, to visit believers living in human settlements not belonging to the area of activity of the religious organizations (communities). 40. The Government further noted that the State authorities have not received communications from leaders of the Belarusian Orthodox Church, Roman Catholic Church or Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith in which they might have expressed concern about difficulties with the registration of new communities or the opening of churches. Under national legislation, religious associations are entitled to found monasteries and convents. They also have the right to independently determine the location of such institutions. 41. Thirteen Greek Catholic Church communities have been registered in the Republic of Belarus. Representatives of communities of this faith have not transmitted communications to the Committee concerning either the registration of a religious association or the return of religious buildings formerly belonging to them. As regards the Greek Catholic Boris and Gleb monastery in Polotsk referred to in the communication, the Committee has no details about the existence of such a monastery in Polotsk. A Boris and Gleb monastery belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church indeed functioned in Polotsk from the thirteenth to twentieth centuries. However, the monastery buildings were destroyed during the Second World War and were never restored. The foundations of the former churches are now buried under the ground,