"The NSS summoned me and asked me to bring the certificate from the State Agency for Religious Affairs allowing me to conduct religious activity and the certificate allowing religious worship to take place on seminary
property," Sands reported. The NSS claimed he had broken the law by
allowing the international church to meet at the seminary. The NSS
accompanied him to the consular department, where the official said his
visa was being cut to just ten days. His visa had been valid until 7 June,
but this meant he had to leave by 6 June, Sands reported.
Bakit Osmanov, the NSS officer who handles religious affairs, refused to
talk to Forum 18 about the expulsions. "I am not going to give you an
interview," he declared on 18 June from Bishkek. Asked by Forum 18 why the NSS secret police asked Sands for confidential information on students, Osmanov said he did not want to answer the question and put down the phone.
Kanatbek Murzakhalilov, the Deputy Head of the State Agency for Religious
Affairs, told Forum 18 that the Agency would consider renewing the
religious work certificates for Sands and Morrice if they applied for it.
"We were told that they violated the visa regime," he said. Asked how they
could have violated the visa regime as they left the country before their
visas expired, Murzakhalilov said he was not sure what exactly they had
violated. "Let them apply for certificates, though we cannot guarantee that
they will be able to get visas," he said.
The academic year at the seminary had already finished and does not resume until 1 September, Sands told Forum 18. "Aware of the trouble, we brought forward the graduation ceremony to 3 June to ensure we would still be there for it."
Sands said the seminary had 40 full-time students in the year just
finished, although in recent years the number of students had been up to
60. Some students live in the seminary-owned accommodation on site, others come in daily. Some four or five foreigners work fulltime at the seminary, he added.
Forum 18 notes that it seems to be a regular pattern for the police and
secret police to demand that heads of religious schools and seminaries
inform them about their students. One Protestant pastor, who wanted to
remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from the authorities, told Forum 18
on 19 June that they also have Bible classes but do not want to register
them formally as a school. Asked for the reason, he responded: "The
authorities will first of all put many barriers so our school could not
function and also ask us to inform them about our students, which we do not want to do."
Bakit Niyazov from Bishkek's Islamic University insists that his
university functions freely and anyone who applies could pass the tests and become a student there. "The State does not regulate our internal matters," he told Forum 18 from Bishkek on 19 June. "Only we have to inform the Muftiate, the State Agency for Religious Affairs, and the District Police who our students are."
Asked why they have to do this, he responded: "I guess for security reasons."
Murzakhalilov told Forum 18 he could not comment on whether the police or NSS had any rights to demand confidential information from religious
institutions. "The NSS has its own internal system and policy and I cannot
comment on their activity."
Presidential decree 319 of 14 November 1996 requires that all foreign
citizens arriving in Kyrgyzstan to do religious work must obtain a
certificate of authorisation from the State Agency for Religious Affairs.
Otherwise their religious activity will be considered illegal, Murzakhalilov declared.
