Growing threats to religious property in Kazakhstan

Ten years after acquiring a disused kindergarten, in the small town of Alga near the north-western city of Aktobe, a New Life Protestant congregation is about to lose its building.

A local official told Forum 18 News Service that the authorities have lodged a second legal case to have the church evicted.

"If a miracle does not happen the authorities will confiscate the building," a church member told Forum 18 from Alga on 16 April. He added that the pastor of the church, Zholaman Nurmanov, was summoned by the local police who demanded that he produce evidence concerning which organisation has sent him and what his title is. "He was ordered to do this very quickly," the church member reported.

Members of religious communities have expressed fears to Forum 18 that the
moves against the property of the New Life Church is part of a wider state
campaign to seize back property acquired by communities in good faith in the last 15 years.

Aleksandr Klyushev of the Association of Religious Organisations of Kazakhstan said he was not sure whether there was a targeted state campaign to expropriate property from religious communities, but saw a definite tightening of state control over religious organisations.

"The authorities are scrutinising all the details, including over the property of religious organisations," he told Forum 18 from the capital Astana on 25 April.

The New Life Church may not have followed all the legal procedures correctly while legalising ownership of their property, Klyushev said. But he also pointed to the Salem Protestant Church of Almaty, which is facing official questioning of its property ownership although, he insisted, everything is in order with its documents.

New Life's Pastor Nurmanov played down the police check-up to Forum 18 on
22 April saying that the police usually check up on organisations, and it
was nothing serious. But he said his major concern was their building. "We
are pressured by the local Akimat (Executive Authority) to give up the
building," he said, "but we are not being offered a new place."

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