Courts in Kyrgyzstan Annul Fourteen Year Church Ownership

ICC Note:
Fourteen years ago, the Protestant Church of Jesus Christ in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan legally bought a cultural center building to use as its “worship building.” Now, suddenly the courts have annulled that sale and are refusing to say why. “We and the third parties gave all the evidence for the defense but the Court ignored it totally,” church members complained. “Then in our absence the Judge made the decision.” There are many speculations as to why this has occurred so many years later, one involves money, as the building is in a prime location. The other is that the “legal moves to seize the building may be motivated by [the government’s] dislike of the Church’s activity and its members spreading their faith across Kyrgyzstan.”
04/10/2014 Kyrgyzstan (Forum18) – Authorities in Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek are seeking to confiscate the building of a Protestant Church, the Church of Jesus Christ, Forum 18 News Service has learned. In January a court annulled the sales contract signed more than 14 years ago, claiming it was in violation of the law. The Church’s appeal against the decision – and its separate appeal to have the whole case thrown out – are due to be heard in Bishkek City Court on 18 April.
Some Church members, and members of other Protestant churches in Bishkek, told Forum 18 that the authorities’ legal moves to seize the building may be motivated by their dislike of the Church’s activity and its members spreading their faith across Kyrgyzstan.
However, other Church members speculate that a major incentive might be financial. “The authorities just want to take advantage of us,” they complained to Forum 18 on 3 April. They point out that the building is in a “prestigious district” of Bishkek with a market price of “about one million US dollars”. The authorities “just want to take it away from us because, we think, they have potential buyers”.
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