4 September 2006
KAZAKHSTAN
Religious Freedom: Chronology of Events January – June 2006
Willy Fautré, Human Rights Without Frontiers Int.
29 January
On 29 January, four police and procuracy officials raided the unregistered Protestant congregation of Oral which is affiliated to the Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians and Baptists which was meeting in the home of Galina Novikova. The officials demanded that she and the pastor of the church, S. Krasnov, go to be interviewed. They also filmed the Sunday service without the permission of those present. The officials drew up an official record even while the service was still going on, but church members refused to sign it.
19 February
The unregistered Protestant congregation of Oral (Uralsk) which was meeting in the home of Galina Novikova was again raided during Sunday worship on 19 February. Two police officers handed Pastor Krasnov a summons from the town's public prosecutor Zakarya Saraliev. When Krasnov arrived accompanied by two church members, a prosecutor's office official pressured him to register the church and to write a statement explaining his refusal. "He refused to write a statement on this, explaining that the Constitution and international human rights agreements guarantee them the right to conduct peaceful religious services".
26 February
The unregistered Aktobe Baptist congregation which is affiliated to the Council of Churches of Evangelical Christians and Baptists was subjected to a police raid during the Sunday service on 26 February, where church members were filmed against their will.
27 February
Baptist pastor Pyotr Panafidin was found guilty under Article 374-1 part 1, and Article 375 part 1 (refusal to register a religious community at the justice department) of the administrative code began three days of court-ordered imprisonment in the southern town of Taraz on 27 February, for non-payment of a massive fine handed down last September for his leadership of an unregistered religious congregation. He also faced threats of his house being seized.
At his hearing on 1 and 2 September, he was given a massive fine of 101,955 tenge (611 Euros or 759 US dollars) despite the fact that he has nine children and is disabled. The government estimates the average monthly wage at just over 30,000 tenge.
27 March
On 27 March, massive fines were handed down on Pastor Abram Pankrats for leading an unregistered Baptist congregation and Valter Zeman who owns the home where it meets in the village of Konaeva in Jambul region of southern Kazakhstan. The Shu district court imposed the fines of 51,500 tenge (330 Euros) each on Pastor Pankrats and Zeman under Article 374-1, part 2, of the administrative code. According to the court ruling, Pankrats "without recognising his guilt" openly declared at his hearing that he leads the church. "
28 March
On 28 March Baptists from Taraz wrote to Kazakhstan's president Nursultan Nazarbayev to complain of pressure on their congregations in the town and the rising number of such prosecutions across Kazakhstan.
29 March
On 29 March, Almaty regional court confiscated the farm of Kazakhstan's Hare Krishna community they own on the outskirts of the commercial capital Almaty without compensation. The state alleged that the former owners changed the registered use recorded in the sale contract from 'peasant farm' to 'subsidiary farm'. Under Kazakh law, only the district administration head (akim) has the right to change the registered use of land. The 47.7 hectare [118 acre] farm was the only Hare Krishna commune in the former Soviet Union, and has long been the target of state attempts to close it down.
However, Kazakhstan's case against the Hare Krishna devotees breaks the country's own laws. When the current legal action was initiated in May 2005, twice the time within which legal action should be taken (3 years) had already elapsed. Despite this major flaw in the state's case, the Almaty regional court ignored this objection.
30 March
The public prosecutor for the nearby town of Taraz, Kadyraly Ospanov, launched an administrative case against Baptist pastor Yakov Skornyakov, as well as an investigation into the activities of two of the town's unregistered Baptist churches.
24 April
On 24 April, Pastor Andrei Grigoryev, who leads a Baptist church in the town of Aktobe was fined 5,150 Tenge (33 Euros) under Article 375 part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences for refusing to register his congregation, whose activity was also "banned". The congregation has been ordered to close down
25 April
A Kazakh official defended the bulldozing on 25 April of five dachas which made up part of the Hare Krishna commune on the outskirts of the commercial capital Almaty. The court in Keskelen district also ruled that other Hare Krishna devotees were to have their dachas confiscated. The devotees appealed against the decision to the regional court, but held out little hope. The community received their notification on 24 April, however the law says that the written notification should be received five days in advance.
18 May
Following the highest fine yet imposed on a Baptist pastor for leading an unregistered religious community, Council of Churches Baptists have once more outlined their objections to official demands that they register their congregations with the government. Pastor Yaroslav Senyushkevich, who leads a Baptist congregation in the capital Astana, was tried by the capital's interdistrict administrative court, where Judge Lezat Alimzhanova found him guilty of violating Article 374 part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences, punishing him with a fine of 103,000 Tenge (673 Euros). This amount is more than three times the estimated average monthly salary.
19 May
On 19 May at the specialised administrative court of Temirtau Judge E. Kirillova fined Dmitri Yantsen 2,060 Tenge (13 Euros) for violating Article 375 part 1 of the Code of administrative Offenses (refusal to register a religious community).
21 May
On 21 May another raid took place by four police officers against the unregistered Aktobe Baptist congregation. Police videoed the congregation against their wishes while the service continued and counted participants. The police demanded that Grigoryev explain why he was leading a worship service after a court had ruled to ban the activity of his unregistered community. Following the police raid, local television has repeatedly shown police film footage of the church with a hostile commentary.
22 May
Among other cases against the Council of Churches Baptists was the trial of ten church members who had preached in the town of Sarkand in Almaty region on 19 May. After being stopped by police, they were charged under part 3 of Article 375 and, at their trial in Sarkand on 22 May, were each fined 13,000 Tenge ( 84 Euros) "for conducting missionary activity without special permission". This is just under two and a half times the average monthly salary of roughly 204 Euros.
25 May
In parallel with the authorities' attempts to seize property owned by members of a Hare Krishna commune near the country's commercial capital, Almaty, devotees have complained about a hostile broadcast on 25 May on the Kazakh language service of the Commercial Television of Kazakhstan (KTK) station, which is controlled by President Nursultan Nazarbayev's daughter, Dariga Nazarbaeva.
29 May
On 29 May, the police visited Grigoryev’s house (pastor of the unregistered Aktobe Baptist congregation) and tried to pressure him to write a statement about his activity.
Late May
In two cases in north-western Kazakhstan, a local Justice Administration has persistently refused registration to a Protestant community and a Jehovah's Witness community for unknown reasons. One leader of the Protestant community has been fined and a second is still facing prosecution.
1 June
On 1 June at the Algin district court of Aktobe region, Judge B. Kopesova fined Aleksandr Lekomtsev, head of the Association of Religious Organisations of Kazakhstan, 5,150 Tenge (33 Euros) for violating Article 375 part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offences. Each Monday, Lekomtsev hosts a worship service in his home in the village of Progress in Algin district.
June
Two members of a group of Protestants in Kulsary, a town in western Kazakhstan about 200 kilometres south-east of the regional centre Atyrau, close to the Caspian Sea, were facing prosecution merely for belonging to an unregistered religious community. One person has previously had a large fine imposed on him in late May, under Article 374-1 of the Code of Administrative Offences. This article punishes "leadership of and participation in the activity of public and religious associations that have not been registered in accordance with the law of the Republic of Kazakhstan, as well as financing their activity", despite having tried in vain to register the community over the past five years.
The Administrative Commission for Kulsary district fined one of the Protestant group's leaders Azat (last name unknown) 50,000 Tenge (323 Euros). Azat immediately appealed against the fine, which was imposed under Article 374-1. He also wrote a joint letter of complaint to the Atyrau Regional Prosecutor's Office with Taraz Samulyak, who is also facing prosecution. Samulyak's case was deferred, after he wrote asking for the judge assigned to the case to be removed.
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