Granting church asylum to fugitives, outlaws or refugees may be a tradition with deep roots in Christian history, but it can get you into trouble with the law. On Wednesday, April 18, the Braunschweig district court will hear the case against Klaus Kuhlmann and Sabine Dressler-Kromminga, the two ministers of the Evangelical-Reformed congregation in Braunschweig. Their crime is to offer the shelter of their church to a family of Muslim refugees. This is the first time that pastors in Germany have been charged with "refugee smuggling" under paragraph 92a of the Aliens Act, and - as Sabine Dressler explains to Update - the case seems intended to act as a deterrent.

Sabine Dressler-Kromminga

WARC: Refugee smuggling? It's an incredible accusation. Frau Dressler, how did this case come about?

Sabine Dressler: I agree with you. The charge of refugee smuggling is an intolerable criminalizing of people who support refugees and church asylum. This accusation doesn't just affect us, it touches others as well. One gets the impression that the public prosecutor's office in Braunschweig wants to establish a precedent.

The case has gone to trial because in January 2000 my colleague and I lodged an objection to a summary order. We told the court - and witnesses confirmed this - that we had informed the authorities about all the steps we took in relation to the church asylum. From the outset we made the asylum public, because we wanted to take the people concerned out of the sphere of illegality.

WARC: Who are these refugees and what is their story?

Sabine Dressler: They are a family of eight, originally from Pakistan. Before we took them in, they had already lived for eight years in Germany, at the end of which period their application for asylum was finally rejected. They are Muslims of the Ahmadiyyah religious community, which is persecuted in Pakistan. For some years, these people sought official recognition in Lower Saxony as a "persecuted "". This failed, not because the situation in Pakistan has improved in any way - the opposite is the case - but because the asylum legislation in Germany was changed. The family has now been living with us for over four years; the children have, so to speak, grown up in church asylum. A dreadful situation for young people who in spite of these circumstances still need to develop.

WARC: What are the prospects, then, for this church asylum?

Sabine Dressler: After the federal state parliament of Lower Saxony rejected a petition in favour of the family's right of residence, we succeeded in making a request for immigration to Canada, with the aid of Canadian colleagues who stood surety for the family. The competent German authorities have been informed about this also. The investigations by the Canadian embassy, however, have taken a long time. We already have provisional acceptance for the family, and we are hoping each day for the final decision of the embassy, since even the complex public health examinations have been completed.

WARC: Four years of church asylum! One can hardly imagine what it has been like, either for the family concerned or for those organizing it. How has the congregation responded?

Sabine Dressler: Very positively - and here I am proud of our congregation, especially in these times when racism and hatred of immigration feed off each other. From the beginning of the church asylum there has been a support group, within the congregation and far beyond it, which has been absolutely splendid. It's not just a question of offering financial aid, although that is already a lot, since the family is completely dependent on donations. There has also been great support of another kind - by visiting the family and talking with them, or by accompanying the children to school, for example. The adults in the family are not allowed to work or to take part in public life in any way. They may not leave the building. But the little ones can at least go to school. To give you a full answer, however, I should say that over such a long period in such a difficult situation there are bound to be some tensions. And so the sooner the family can stand on its own feet again, the better for it.

WARC: How can other people support you?

Sabine Dressler: First, by publicizing the case. Secondly - and this applies also to people in public life and to the church - by standing in solidarity with us. For example, Amnesty International supported us last year when the case began by organizing a letter campaign to the relevant authorities. I want to emphasize that this church asylum in Braunschweig is not our private affair, even if we are now called to account for it. If we are found guilty as charged, if we are convicted as refugee smugglers according to paragraph 92a of the Aliens Act, this could have fatal consequences for other church asylums also. If it is not to come to that, the churches need to make their position clear, so far as helping refugees is concerned, and also - together with people in positions of political responsibility and the state authorities - to seek humane solutions.

WARC: Frau Dressler, thank you for talking to us. We hope that the trial and the church asylum will both turn out well.

Translated from the German by Páraic Réamonn