Unregistered Protestants in Kazakhstan are being fined for worshipping, but religious communities are reportedly being refused registration by government officials.
According to Forum 18 News Service, two local Protestant churches have been denied registration without reason. This brings about a widespread concern throughout the country since any religious activity in the country has been made illegal in July this year.
Aleksandr Klyushev, head of the Association of Religious Organisations of Kazakhstan (AROK), spoke to Forum 18 News Service from the capital Astana.
Rustam Kairulin, pastor of the Protestant Sonbakyn church in the Caspian Sea port of Atyrau, said he had tried six times to register his church with the Atyrau regional justice administration but was denied.
"We were last refused registration in July this year," he told Forum 18 from Atyrau on 6 September. "Every time, officials find some fault in our documents. But I think these are just quibbles – in fact, the authorities don't want Christianity to become widespread in the region."
A Protestant from Gulsary, a district centre 200 kilometres south of Atyrau, told Forum 18 that local Protestants in the district have tried to register the Resurrection church four times but were rejected at all times.
He also said that two officials from the Gulsary district public prosecutor’s office came to a church meeting on August 6 and made all the church members write a statement explaining why they are joining in on activities run by an unregistered church.
Church members were warned that they would be fined if they gathered again. "Basically, they are deliberately driving us into a trap," the Gulsary Protestant complained to Forum 18. "They find pretexts to refuse us registration, and then when we meet together they accuse us of breaking the law."
We were last refused registration in July this year. Every time, officials find some fault in our documents.
Pastor Rustam Kairulin, Protestant Sonbakyn Church
Turlat Nurzhanov, an official of the Atyrau regional justice administration dismissed the complaints and said that “The Protestant churches are being refused registration on legal grounds.”
