Tolmachev said it was disturbing for them before the neighbours, since it is not regarded as good when law-enforcement officials arrive at the door. "They checked our papers, and asked two people from the church whether they
were forced to attend the classes."
The officials realised that everything was fine but still invited him to visit the Kopetdag district Hyakimlik the following day, a Saturday.
"At the Hyakimlik, officials asked me to sign a paper admitting our violations," Tolmachev told Forum 18. Officials told him the church was not allowed to teach classes as it does not have the necessary special permission from the Gengeshi for Religious Affairs.
"I explained to them that we do not have an official Bible Seminary, and the courses we teach in our church cover basic Christian doctrines," Tolmachev reported. The Bible classes are for the internal needs of the community and teaching their members what they believe is a right expressed in their Charter confirmed by the Justice Ministry, Tolmachev insisted.
When he refused to sign the paper he was warned that he would in any case
receive an official warning soon. He told Forum 18 that based on a regulation of the Justice Ministry, if an organisation receives two warnings it will be stripped of its official registration. "Without official registration we would be an illegal organisation," Tolmachev pointed out.
Murad Aksakov, an official at the Kopetdag Hyakimlik Religious Affairs department, told Forum 18 that they did indeed visit the church "since it is our duty to check up on religious organisations". "We went there as guests, and I don't see anything wrong with that since we have the right to check up on religious organisations," Aksakov told Forum 18 from Ashgabad on 16 April. Asked the reason for the check-up, he said they just wanted to find out how many people attended the classes, who those people were, and whether everything was in order with the church's documents.
Forum 18 tried to reach Bibi Agieva of the Justice Ministry, who also was present during the check-up. The official who answered the phone on 16 April said that she was on sick-leave, and they did not know when she would be back. Forum 18 tried to talk to another official from the international and legal issues department about the case but the official categorically refused to discuss it. "We are not going to talk to you over the phone," she said. "Write us a letter, and we'll look into it." She then put the phone down.
Tolmachev told Forum 18 that the church needs a larger place for Bible classes, as classes for up to 25 students are held at a small one-room apartment. However, the Hyakimlik refuses to give permission to the church to rent a place for the classes. "We have applied for permission to the Hyakim [head of the administration] more than a month ago, but there has been no response yet," he complained. "Without written permission from the Hyakim no-one would rent space to you in Ashgabad."
