Unregistered Protestants Facing Fines for Worship in Kazakhstan

Unregistered Protestants in Kazakhstan are being fined for worshipping, but religious communities are reportedly being refused registration by government officials.
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According to Forum 18 News Service, two local Protestant churches have been denied registration without reason. This brings about a widespread concern throughout the country since any religious activity in the country has been made illegal in July this year.

Aleksandr Klyushev, head of the Association of Religious Organisations of Kazakhstan (AROK), spoke to Forum 18 News Service from the capital Astana.

Rustam Kairulin, pastor of the Protestant Sonbakyn church in the Caspian Sea port of Atyrau, said he had tried six times to register his church with the Atyrau regional justice administration but was denied.

"We were last refused registration in July this year," he told Forum 18 from Atyrau on 6 September. "Every time, officials find some fault in our documents. But I think these are just quibbles – in fact, the authorities don't want Christianity to become widespread in the region."

A Protestant from Gulsary, a district centre 200 kilometres south of Atyrau, told Forum 18 that local Protestants in the district have tried to register the Resurrection church four times but were rejected at all times.

He also said that two officials from the Gulsary district public prosecutor’s office came to a church meeting on August 6 and made all the church members write a statement explaining why they are joining in on activities run by an unregistered church.

Church members were warned that they would be fined if they gathered again. "Basically, they are deliberately driving us into a trap," the Gulsary Protestant complained to Forum 18. "They find pretexts to refuse us registration, and then when we meet together they accuse us of breaking the law."
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Turlat Nurzhanov, an official of the Atyrau regional justice administration dismissed the complaints and said that “The Protestant churches are being refused registration on legal grounds.”

He said to Forum 18 that "They fill in the documents required for registration incorrectly every time. It's a lie to say that the regional authorities are hampering the spread of Christianity."

Since the Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a national security law on 8 July amending the religion law and other laws in the country, religious communities that have not registered have begun to face tough situations.

A section of article 4 of the amended religion law forbids the activity of unregistered religious organisations. A new law corresponding to the amendments was also made to strengthen the Code of Administrative Offences.

A new article, 374-1, was added to the code that has been defined as ‘Leadership 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’.

Unregistered religious communities have already been under pressure from authorities before July, but since the amendments were made the authorities have allegedly gained the right to pressurise them legally.

But Klyushev of AROK does not think the persecution of Protestants in Atyrau region is linked with the recent amendments to the religion law. "I have not seen any substantial changes since the amendments to the religion law came into effect either in Astana or in Almaty," he told Forum 18. "So I think these are provincial officials acting on their own."

Pastor Pyotr Panafidin – who leads a Council of Churches Baptist congregation in the town of Taraz - was found guilty of refusing to register his religious community at the justice department. He was fined 101,955 tenge (611 Euros) at his hearing earlier this month – 3 times more than the average monthly wage.

Council of Churches Baptists were among religious minorities and human rights groups to oppose the adoption of the national security amendments, arguing that they violated the constitutional right to freedom of conscience and worship.

The national security amendments have been opposed by religious minorities and human rights groups and have been stated as a violation to the constitutional right to freedom of conscience and worship, reported Forum 18.