Churches Forced to Close Against Their Will in Kazakhstan
ICC Note:
Churches and Mosques in Kazakhstan are complaining of being forced to shut down, or being tricked into shutting down. The religious communities claim that the reasons they are being forced to close are “arbitrary and flawed” and done in the absence of legitimate legal procedures. This is all a result of the “Religion Law” coming into effect, following a year of required registration and re-registration for religious communities.
By Mushfig Bayram
12/11/2012 Kazakhstan (Forum18)– Kazakhstan is enforcing the closures of many Muslim and Christian religious communities after the deadline for re-registration applications expired. Many closed communities have complained to Forum 18 News Service that liquidation decisions are arbitrary and flawed, often taken amid questionable legal procedures. One community was closed down for giving “false information” (one of the listed founders died during the application process). Another – an independent mosque – was closed down (without being aware of the hearings) for failing to give extensive information about its beliefs. A Protestant church believes it was closed down because most of its members are ethnic Kazakhs.
In some cases the authorities have enforced closures of mosques and Protestant churches with the “consent” of these communities, with promises that they may function as branches of other registered communities of the same faith, or apply for registration as new organisations. Leaders of these communities have described themselves to Forum 18 as being “deceived” or “compelled” to agree in courts to their liquidation. But subsequently state registration has not yet been granted, or steps to register as new organisations have not been successful (see below).
No one at the government’s Agency of Religious Affairs (ARA) in the capital Astana was prepared to discuss the court-ordered closures of religious communities with Forum 18 on 11 December.
Closed against their will
Communities had one year to apply or re-apply for state permission to exist from 25 October 2011, when the Religion Law came into force. All unregistered exercise of freedom of religion or belief by people in association with others is a criminal offence, against the international human rights obligations Kazakhstan has solemnly promised to implement. Many communities have condemned the compulsory re-registration process as “complex”, “burdensome”, “arbitrary”, “unnecessary” and “expensive” (see F18News 21 November 2012 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1768).
Among communities known to have been closed against their will have been the ethnic Azerbaijani Fatimai Shia Muslim Mosque in Almaty Region (see F18 News 7 Decemberhttp://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1778), Tautan Molla independent Mosque in Karaganda [Qaraghandy] Region (see F18News 22 November 2012 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1769), Light of the World Pentecostal Church in South Kazakhstan Region, and several Protestant churches in another southern region (see below).
Other communities across Kazakhstan known by Forum 18 to have been closed do not wish to be publicly identified, for fear of state reprisals.
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