Vassili Kim, the lawyer hired by the church, pointed out that the church
has invested in the renovation of the whole building and has put in a
heating system.
"If calculated in today's prices the money spent improving the building would come up to 1.2 million tenges [around £5,000]," he told Forum 18 on 22 April.
The church has gained many followers from the area, and it would be very difficult for the members if the church was moved away, he said. "Three years ago the Akimat offered a new place to the church, but wanted the church to buy the new building," said Kim. "But the church could not afford buying a new
building then let alone now."
If the church loses its current building, it will be left with no legal address, Kim complained. Without a legal address they could lose state registration as Kazakhstan's Religion Law demands that organisations function at the legal address indicated in the registration. Once the legal address is lost organisations are required to re-register at the new address if they have one, Kim said. "The major concern now is that without a building, the church activity would be considered as unregistered, which is punishable by Law," he said.
Kazakhstan continues to punish unregistered religious activity in defiance
of international human rights norms and standards. Members of the religious
communities have been put under administrative arrest and fined.
Nurkhan Agniyazov, the deputy Akim (Head of Executive Authority) of Aktobe
region, defended the state moves to reclaim the building from New Life
church. He told Forum 18 on 17 April because the building was derelict, the
Akim of the region handed it to the church in 1998. "It had earlier been a
kindergarten, and the kindergarten system lost a lot of buildings because
of poor management," said Agniyazov.
He reported that three years ago a court overruled the Akim's decision and
made a new decision to restore the kindergarten. Asked why the church or
the kindergarten was not offered a new place, he said they tried to find
solutions but could not. He referred Forum 18 to Sangazy Kurmanalin, the
Deputy Head of the local state Economic Department.
Kurmanalin insisted that recovering the former kindergarten was in line with a decree of President Nursultan Nazarbaev from 2000. "By that decree the President demanded regional governments to restore the old kindergarten
system", he told Forum 18 on 21 April. One of the issues in front of us is the buildings that used to belong to that system, he said. "The decision to give the building away was made by the incumbent Akim back in 1998 but overruled by the court three years ago," said Kurmanalin. "The church officially does not own the building now, so they must vacate it."
Kurmanalin told Forum 18 he was not aware whether the Akimat was taking
back other former kindergarten buildings from the new owners. Asked why no
charges were brought against the Akim if his decision was illegal,
Kurmanalin said he was not competent to answer the question. "I cannot
answer your detailed questions right now, and we have brought the case to
court already a second time," he said. Kurmanalin told Forum 18 to wait
until after the court decides the matter.
By Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 News Service www.forum18.org
