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Pentecostal Church "illegally" barred from visiting prison
Keston News Service (15.07.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (18.07.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Officials of Kazakhstan's prison system have refused members of a Pentecostal church in the south of the country access to local prison camps on the grounds that one of their preachers is a former prisoner, despite requests for such visits from prisoners themselves.
Officials of the South Kazakhstan region have told Keston News Service they believe the ban is unlawful, but they are unable to overrule the decision. "People who remember me in prison want me to tell them how I managed to save myself," former drug addict Aleksandr Karimov told Keston.
A senior religious affairs official told Keston he was "astonished" to hear of Karimov's case. "In Kazakhstan prisoners are free to perform religious rituals. Preachers may visit places of detention and associate with believers." He thought this case was a "simple misunderstanding" and would soon be resolved, but a legal specialist at the prison service told Keston that permission in these cases depends on the service's investigation into a church community and its aims.
Source: http://www.keston.org/
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Court orders deportation of Krishna devotees
Keston News Service (11.06.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (10.06.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Five members of a Hare Krishna commune in Kazakhstan face deportation and more deportations could follow, Keston News Service has learned. Local officials have insisted to Keston that the five violated laws on registration of foreign citizens.
This is the latest in a series of incidents of pressure on the commune (see KNS 16 May 2002). The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe has said that it is "unable to say definitely whether or not the Krishna devotees have broken the law".
Source: http://www.keston.org/
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Krishna devotees threatened with deportation
Keston News Service (16.05.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (16.05.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - Fifteen foreign members of a Hare Krishna commune in the Karasai district of Kazakhstan have had their passports seized by the local police and are now threatened with deportation, Keston News Service has learnt. This is the latest in a series of incidents of pressure on the commune. A member of the Hare Krishna community, claimed on 13 May that the district authorities are deliberately trying to drive out Hare Krishna devotees. Local television has portrayed the Society for Krishna Consciousness as an 'unlawful sect' which sowed 'hatred and discord'. The OSCE mission in Almaty told Keston that "the Hare Krishnas' problems demonstrate yet again that although the current Kazakh religion law conforms to international standards, unfortunately it is being applied far from consistently".
Keston News Servicehttp://www.keston.org
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Relief and concern in wake of Religion Law ruling
by Igor Rotar,
Keston News Service (15.04.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (15.04.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - Tatyana Bulimenko, the responsible official at the legal department of the presidential administration, told Keston News Service from the Kazakh capital Astana on 11 April that President Nursultan Nazarbayev is not going to appeal against the Constitutional Court's decision that proposed amendments to the law on religion are at variance with the constitution (see KNS 8 April 2002). A number of human rights and religious figures have welcomed the decision, although some have told Keston that they fear the process of trying to amend the country's religion law could begin all over again.
According to Kazakh law, the president could have appealed against the decision of the Constitutional Council. In that case, the Constitutional Council's verdict could only have come into force if two thirds of the Constitutional Court had voted in its favour for a second time. Thus, at least for the time being, the previous law on religion remains in force.
If adopted, the amendments to the law would have allowed unregistered religious groups to be banned, required all missionaries to be registered and denied legal registration to all Muslim organisations outside the framework of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan. In its survey of opinion among religious communities in January, Keston found that only the Spiritual Administration offered unequivocal support for the new law, while a range of faiths strongly criticised many of its provisions. Many provisions were also criticised by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Keston News Servicehttp://www.keston.org
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Constitutional Council deems Religion Law changes "unconstitutional"
Keston Institute (08.04.2002) / HRWF International Secretariat (09.04.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - Kazakhstan's Constitutional Council has ruled that some of the controversial amendments to the country's religion law approved by both houses of parliament in January are "unconstitutional", Keston News Service has learned. Council member Kumarbek Umarkhanov told Keston that the Constitutional Council's decision would be published soon. He declined to specify which of the amended articles were found to violate the constitution. It remains unclear what will now happen to the proposed amendments, which have had strong backing from senior levels of the political establishment.
Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org
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Further fines for unregistered Baptists
Keston Institute (06.03.2002) / HRWF International Secretariat (08.03.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.netIn the latest in a series of restrictions placed on unregistered Baptist congregations in Kazakhstan, a married couple have been fined for unregistered church activity, Keston News Service has learned.
Neither Kazakhstan's constitution nor its current religion law require religious groups to register, but the administrative code allows the authorities to prosecute believers who refuse to register their communities. "Peaceful religious communities should not be hindered by administrative provisions in practising their religion," a representative of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Centre in Almaty told Keston.
Keston News Servicehttp://www.keston.org
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Controversial religion law sent to Constitutional Council
Keston Institute (06.03.2002) / HRWF International Secretariat (08.03.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - Kazakhstan's controversial religion law, approved by parliament at the end of January and sent for signature by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, has now been sent to the Constitutional Council for it to give its expertise, Keston News Service has learned. Sources in the presidential administration in the capital Astana reported on 6 March that this process is likely to take about a month and that the law will then be returned to the president.
Ever since the law - which the president declared "urgent" in mid-January was adopted by parliament, its progress has been shrouded in secrecy
Keston News Servicehttp://www.keston.org
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President to sign Religion Law "within two weeks"
Keston News Service (22.02.2002)/HRWF International Secretariat (26.02.2002) Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - President Nursultan Nazarbayev has not yet signed the controversial religion law approved by parliament at the end of January but will do so "within the next two weeks", a source in the presidential administration in the capital Astana declared unofficially today (22 February). Keston News Service's earlier attempts to establish the current status of the law had been unsuccessful as the whole process has been shrouded in secrecy. Rumours abounded that it had already been signed but government officials had claimed to have "no information"
Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org
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Baptist arrested for distributing literature
Keston News Service (15.02. 2002)/ HRWF (15.02.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.netA Baptist from the town of Turkestan in southern Kazakhstan, Tursunbai Auelbekov, was distributing free copies of Kazakh-language Christian literature on 23 January when he was arrested by police, Keston News Service has learned. The town's deputy public prosecutor told Keston on 25 January that since the Baptist church is not registered at the local justice department, its followers do not have the right to carry out any activity. The public prosecutor's office had intended to prosecute Auelbekov, although there was nothing "anti-constitutional" in the literature, but when it was discovered that he was in poor health, he was released. A senior Baptist pastor told Keston that it is particularly in southern Kazakhstan that Baptists encounter infringements of believers' rights on the part of the authorities.
Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org
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Proposed legislation raises new concern
for religious freedom
New legislation awaiting agreement by the Kazakhstan authorities looks set to undermine religious freedom.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide (31.01.2002) / HRWF (31.01.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - The Keston Institute reports that if adopted, the law will require all missionaries to be registered and allow unregistered religious groups to be banned.
In addition to expected restrictions on many Protestant churches, it will also deny legal registration to all Muslim organisations outside the framework of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan.
The law on freedom of conscience and religious organisations has already passed from the lower to the upper house of the Kazakh parliament and if approved on January 31, needs only the signature of President Nazarbayev.
Kazakh officials have justified the move by citing an increased security threat from extreme religious groups.
With registration procedures lacking clear definition, religious groups fear the legislation will be open to abuse and likely to be arbitrarily applied by local officials.
However, the real target of the law is believed to be 'non-traditional' religions other than Sunni Islam and Russian Orthodoxy.
The law also raises the number of people required to register as a religious association from ten to 50 nationals, a process that in the past has led to harassment.
Foreign religious groups will only be able to operate through a central religious centre, religious education for children could be banned and there are a variety of pretexts on which religious associations could be banned.
These include refusal to register, activities which contradict the aims set out in its statute, running youth assemblies and infringement of the laws relating to where religious meetings are held if away from the association's base.
An earlier draft of this legislation was revoked in August 2001 following concerns raised by the international community including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The existing laws governing religion in the country comply with international standards of religious freedom and Kazakhstan was considered to be one of the most liberal of the central Asian states.
Christian Solidarity Worldwide believes that if adopted, this legislation would undermine freedom of worship for all legitimate religious groups and is open to abuse from state officials.
CSW is briefing Parliamentarians and Western foreign ministries at the European Union and the United Nations in a bid to get the legislation stopped in its tracks.
Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, said: "We understand the concerns of the Kazakh government relating to extremist religious groups, but feel that this legislation is not justifiable and will have a negative impact on many law-abiding and peaceful religious groups.
"We are respectfully calling on the Kazakh government to comply with international standards of religious freedom and to ensure this is upheld in their laws and practices."
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New restrictive religion law goes to upper house
Keston News Service (23.01.2002)/ HRWF (24.01.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net- Kazakhstan's proposed new religion law is likely to be approved by the upper house of the Kazakh parliament on 31 January, despite objections from religious groups, human rights activists and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Keston News Service has learned. It was approved by the lower house on 17 January, and also requires the signature of the president to become law.
If adopted unamended it will allow unregistered religious groups to be banned, require all missionaries to be registered and deny legal registration to all Muslim organisations outside the framework of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Kazakhstan.
Keston news Service: http://www.keston.org
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Did security police kill devout Muslim?
Keston News Service (14.01.2002)/ HRWF (15.01.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Emailinfo@hrwf.net - The lawyer representing a Muslim man who died of serious injuries in the town of Turkestan on 3 November has told Keston News Service that she believes he died of beatings sustained at the hands of officers of Kazakhstan's security police, the National Security Committee (NSC).
Kanat Beimbetov was arrested by NSC officers on 26 October, who demanded that he confess to links with Uzbek Islamic terrorist organisations, the lawyer said, adding that "Beimbetov's only 'crime' was that he was a committed believer and attended the mosque regularly."
The chief public prosecutor of the region told Keston that an investigation into the death was underway, but a representative of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law said that she was pessimistic about the outcome. "We have identified dozens of cases where prisoners have been tortured by the law enforcement agencies," she said. "Yet these crimes always remain unpunished."
(Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org/)
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