FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway http://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness The right to change one’s belief or religion The right to join together and express one’s belief
14 November 2006
KAZAKHSTAN: PUNISHED FOR PREACHING IN MOSQUES
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=868
Members of the Tabligh Jama’at international Islamic missionary organisation face increased fines across Kazakhstan for trying to give lectures in mosques without state registration, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Provisions in Kazakh law punish “missionary activity” without special permission. Also punishable is any activity by religious communities that do not have registration, with Baptists and other Protestants so far bearing the brunt of such fines. Secret police official Askar Amerkhanov denied to Forum 18 that the Kazakh authorities now regard Tabligh as extremist: “Tabligh’s problem is that its supporters are preaching without having registered with the authorities.” Tabligh supporter Murad Mynbaev told Forum 18 in Almaty that the group does not attribute its problems to the central Kazakh authorities but to local authorities “who in their ignorance think we are a political organisation”.
15 November 2006
KAZAKHSTAN: EXPELLED FOR “MISSIONARY ACTIVITY WITHOUT REGISTRATION”
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=871
Shortly after speaking as an official guest at an event marking Kazakhstan’s “Day of Spiritual Unity and Conciliation,” a South Korean Pastor has been expelled for “missionary work without registration,” Forum 18 News Service has been told. Pastor Kim U Sob has led the Love Presbyterian Church in the southern town of Kyzyl-Orda for the past eight years, and was visiting a church member. “The police suddenly burst into the house where he was staying and filmed everyone present,” a church member who wished to remain unnamed told Forum 18. “The situation for believers’ rights in Kazakhstan is starting to resemble the 1930s. Recently the police were literally on the pastor’s heels.” Pastor Kim was convicted of “missionary work without registration,” and subsequently refused an extension to his visa, forcing him to leave the country. Kazakh law professor Roman Podoprigora told Forum 18 that “Kim U Sob has become a victim of the view typically taken by officials.” * See full article below. *
17 November 2006
KAZAKHSTAN: “THE SITUATION COULD TURN OUT BADLY FOR THE KRISHNA FOLLOWERS”
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=872
Hare Krishna devotees are increasingly sceptical that a state Commission, with the proclaimed aim of resolving a long-running dispute caused by the state’s attempts to take over a Hare Krishna commune, will solve the issue, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Ludmila Danilenko, of the state Religious Affairs Committee, told Forum 18 that “the decision that the Commission has reached will be made public shortly.” Some suggest that the Commission’s real aim was to deflect criticism at the contrast between the state’s attacks on religious freedom and its often repeated boasts that it supports religious tolerance. Sources, which preferred to be unnamed, have told Forum 18 of “persistent rumours” that Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s brother, Bulat Nazarbayev, wants to acquire the Krishna farm. Amanbek Mukhashev of the Religious Affairs Committee told Forum 18 that if the commune continues, “the situation could turn out badly for the Krishna followers.”
14 November 2006
RUSSIA: WILL NGO REGULATIONS RESTRICT RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES?
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=869
Fulfilling the requirements of Russia’s January 2006 legal amendments – commonly referred to as the NGO Law – will be practically impossible for many religious organisations, a Russian religious rights lawyer, Vladimir Ryakhovsky, has suggested to Forum 18 News Service. He thinks that “there will be selective application of the law – right up to liquidation – for those not to the authorities’ liking.” However, a senior Federal Registration Service official has stressed to Forum 18 that the deadline for religious organisations to submit the first annual accounts of their activity – 15 April 2007 – is still far off. “We’re not dealing with it yet,” Andrei Sarychev told Forum 18. The bureaucratic requirements are very detailed. “A charitable foundation might manage this, but how can a religious organisation say how many people were at its events? Or whether a Russian or foreign citizen put money in its collection box? What constitutes ‘charter activity’ for a religious organisation?” questioned Ryakhovsky. Religious organisations sometimes complain about petty checks made by local Federal Registration Service departments.
15 November 2006
RUSSIA: HOW LIKELY ARE MISSIONARY RESTRICTIONS?
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=870
In early September 2006 Russian Justice Ministry proposals for a draft law, aimed at “Counteracting Illegal Missionary Activity,” were published by the Slavic Centre for Law and Justice. The draft proposes wide-ranging restrictions on all “missionary activity.” Vladimir Ryakhovsky, a lawyer with the Centre, told Forum 18 News Service this month that he hoped that it would not be considered by the Duma, Russia’s parliament, “because it’s absurd.” Andrei Sarychev, a senior Justice Ministry official, stressed that the draft has no formal status. “It is still a proposal – it hasn’t been taken up by the Duma or anything,” adding that he did not know who was responsible for it. Stepan Medvedko, a consultant to the Duma Committee on Religious and Social Organisations, told Forum 18 that no such proposals have been taken up by his Committee for Duma consideration. “We are not considering any changes to the 1997 Religion Law right now.” He also stressed that the Justice Ministry text was “just a proposal – it hasn’t been sent to us so we can’t comment on it” and added that all other suggested amendments “have either gradually been rejected or else became no longer necessary.”
15 November 2006
KAZAKHSTAN: EXPELLED FOR “MISSIONARY ACTIVITY WITHOUT REGISTRATION”
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=871
By Igor Rotar, Central Asia Correspondent, Forum 18 News Service
South Korean pastor Kim U Sob, who has led the Love Presbyterian Church in the southern Kazakh town of Kyzyl-Orda [Qyzylorda] for the past eight years, has been forced to leave the country, Aleksandr Klyushev of the Association of Religious Communities of Kazakhstan told Forum 18 News Service. The local Migration Police refused to allow the pastor to extend his visa and remain in the country, after he was found guilty in June of carrying out “missionary work without registration.” Pastor Kim was accredited to carry out missionary work in the town of Kyzyl-Orda, but not in the wider region. “We accompanied the pastor to the aeroplane today,” a church member who preferred not to be identified told Forum 18 from Kyzyl-Orda on 14 November.
The head of the Migration Police for Kyzyl-Orda region, Amyrbek Shaimagbetov, told Forum 18 that “with all the good will in the world” it could not extend Kim U Sob’s visa. “Under Kazakh law a foreigner has to give a valid reason for an extended stay in Kazakhstan,” he told Forum 18 on 14 November from Kyzyl-Orda. “The town akimat [administration] refused Kim U Sob his missionary accreditation.”
Ibadullo Kuttykhojayev, deputy head of the Kyzyl-Orda Town Administration, admitted to Forum 18 that it had refused Pastor Kim’s registration. “By law, we have to ask the law enforcement agencies about him before we can give a missionary registration,” he told Forum 18 from Kyzyl-Orda on 14 November. “The answer came back from the Internal Affairs Administration for Kyzyl-Orda region that Kim U Sob had committed an administrative offence, after engaging in missionary activity without registration. Therefore we had to refuse him an extension to his missionary accreditation.”
Oddly, in view of the accusations against him, Pastor Kim was among Kyzyl-Orda’s religious leaders invited to speak at an official event in a cultural centre, on 18 October, to mark the Day of Spiritual Unity and Conciliation. This marks a 1992 Kazakh official “First Congress of Spiritual Accord,” and is a day officially claimed to celebrate the “full rights” achieved by “religious people and communities,” and the official claim that “Kazakhstan is one of the first countries which managed to transform the idea of spiritual accord into reality.” A report of the event remains on the Kyzyl-Orda regional administration website. The accusations against and conviction of Pastor Kim violate international human rights standards.
Pastor Kim was accused of illegal missionary activity after police raided the home of a church member he was visiting in Kyzyl-Orda region, outside the town itself. “He did not even suspecting that friendly socialising might be classed as missionary activity,” one church member told Forum 18. “However, the police suddenly burst into the house where he was staying and filmed everyone present. The situation for believers’ rights in Kazakhstan is starting to resemble the 1930s. Recently the police were literally on the pastor’s heels.”
Klyushev reported that Kim was found guilty in June of carrying out missionary work in the region without registration. He was then fined approximately 20,000 Tenge (1,006 Norwegian Kroner, 122 Euros or 156 US Dollars).
In February 2005, Kazakhstan’s President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, signed “extremism” legal amendments, which restricted religious freedom. In July 2005, President Nazarbayev signed “national security” legal amendments, which placed further substantial limitations on religious freedom. Under the “national security” amendments, unregistered religious organisations are banned in Kazakhstan and missionaries have to register with the local authorities.
Professor Roman Podoprigora, who specialises in Kazakh law as it affects religion, notes that the issue of whether registration is obligatory or not is disputed. “On the one hand, under the amendments to the law on national security only followers of religions which are not registered in Kazakhstan are regarded as missionaries. On the other, missionaries seeking registration have to provide an invitation from a religious organisation which is registered in Kazakhstan,” he told Forum 18 from Almaty. “So there is a fundamental contradiction in these amendments.”
Podoprigora said that in practice officials generally regard all foreign clergy who come to Kazakhstan to preach as missionaries, even if they are representatives of religious faiths that are registered in the country. “Kim U Sob has become a victim of the view typically taken by officials,” he commented to Forum 18.
Further restrictions on religious freedom, through changes to Kazakhstan’s Anti-terrorism Law, are being planned for later in 2006 by the KNB secret police (see 24 October 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=859>).
In recent months, Protestants have told Forum 18 that they face increasing restrictions on their activity especially in southern and western parts of Kazakhstan (see eg. F18News F18News 2 October 2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=848> and 24 October 2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=859>).
Foreign Christian preachers are not alone in facing difficulties. In a growing number of cases, members of the Muslim international missionary organisation Tabligh Jama’at have been prosecuted under the Code of Administrative Offences and at least four who were foreign citizens have been expelled from the country (see F18News 14 November 2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=868>).
Members of the country’s Hare Krishna community also face ongoing attacks on their religious freedom by the government (see F18News 8 September 2006 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=839>). (END)
For a personal commentary on how attacking religious freedom damages national security in Kazakhstan, see eg. F18News <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=564>
For more background, see Forum 18’s Kazakhstan religious freedom survey at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=701>
A survey of the religious freedom decline in the eastern part of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) area is at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=806> and a survey of religious intolerance in Central Asia is at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=815>.
A printer-friendly map of Kazakhstan is available at <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=kazakh> (END)
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