Officials in Kazakhstan Attempt to Frame Pastor

KAZAKHSTAN: “He needs local state permission to preach”
ICC Note:
It seems that a “law-enforcement agency” attempted to frame a pastor and members of his congregation when they went to a Sauna. Apparently, the “law-enforcement” officer told the Sauna staff to let two girls in after the Believers arrived, saying, “most important thing was to let the girls in and that they should be able to take off all their clothes. And after that, two police officers will arrive.” The Pastor told reporters that he was “he was going public on this case to try to prevent such methods being used in future.”
By Felix Corley
4/16/2013 Kazakhstan (Forum18)- Pastor Igor Andreikin and others from New Life Pentecostal Church are also concerned by an apparent attempt by an unknown “law-enforcement agency” to discredit or blackmail them. An unidentified “law-enforcement officer” attempted to send two young women into a sauna session with the Pastor and other men from the church, to be closely followed by police. Both the ordinary police and the National Security Committee (KNB) secret police have denied to Forum 18 that they had any involvement (see below). Pastor Igor Andreikin told Forum 18 that he was going public on this case to try to prevent such methods being used in future.
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On Saturday evening, 30 March, Pastor Medvedev and his son Rodion, together with Pastor Andreikin and five other church members – all men – had arranged a visit to the local sauna. Pastor Medvedev later discovered that before their arrival, a man who claimed to be from an unnamed “law-enforcement agency” had visited the sauna to try to persuade the sauna staff to allow in two young women when the church members were alone in the sauna.
“This officer several times stressed that a very important operation was underway,” Pastor Medvedev told Forum 18. “He said he knew who had booked the sauna for this time and that he knew that only men would be there. He gave the names and nicknames of the prostitutes.”
Sauna staff told the man that children would be there and that the sauna’s clients could lodge a complaint to the police. However, the “law-enforcement agency” man told sauna staff that the “most important thing was to let the girls in and that they should be able to take off all their clothes. And after that, two police officers will arrive.”
Two young women were on the street outside when the church members arrived, Pastor Medvedev told Forum 18. But the sauna staff did not let them in. The women telephoned someone and passed the phone through the window to the sauna staff, but the staff continued to prevent them from entering.
“I believe there are certain ‘third forces’ who are seeking any possibility to discredit us before the public of Kazakhstan and the international society,” Pastor Medvedev insisted to Forum 18.
Pastor Andreikin told Forum 18 that “if there are in our country certain ‘third forces’, as many eye-witnesses have told us, I have a great fear for my own safety and the safety of other church leaders.” He fears that given that “boundaries have been crossed”, there is nothing to stop officials planting drugs on church leaders or using other methods of framing them. He stated that he was going public on this case to try to prevent such methods be used in future.
“KNB officers didn’t go to the sauna”
Told about the apparent attempt to smear or blackmail church members at the sauna on 30 March, Acting Head of Stepnogorsk ordinary Police Akmagambetov laughed. “Our service was not involved in such a thing,” he insisted to Forum 18. “Maybe some other service was involved.” Asked if he meant the KNB secret police, he declined to comment.
The Deputy Head of Stepnogorsk KNB secret police, who gave his name only as Baurzhan, insisted that he was hearing about the 30 March events at the sauna “for the first time” from Forum 18. “But I can tell you categorically that KNB officers didn’t go to the sauna,” he told Forum 18 from Stepnogorsk on 15 April.
He said that to be able to answer Forum 18’s further questions on the events, Forum 18 would have to come to Stepnogorsk and lodge an official request. “You must apply to us in accordance with the legally-established methods.”
Surveillance
A number of prominent members of religious communities the government does not like are known to be monitored. Several are also on criminal investigation lists despite the fact that they have never been prosecuted or investigated on administrative or criminal charges (see forthcoming F18News article).
Pastor Andreikin travelled to the United States in March on a US State Department-funded visit with two other Kazakh religious leaders and the head of a government-backed “anti-sect” centre. He told Forum 18 that although he had mentioned nothing about it to them, officials of the Temirtau Akimat’s Internal Policy Department appeared well informed about his participation in the visit.
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