Kazakhstan backs off on religion limits

Kazakhstan, a key U.S. economic partner in Central Asia, has dramatically reversed legislation curtailing religious freedoms after the measure and the jailings and expulsions of two religious activists caused an international outcry.

With little explanation, the country’s constitutional council announced Wednesday that amendments to a religion law were “inconsistent” with Kazakhstan’s constitution.

A spokesman for the Kazakh Embassy said Thursday that the amendments did not dovetail with international human rights law and were sent back to committee.

On Feb. 4, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) assessed the law as not complying with human rights standards. The amendments bolstered the main religions in the country - Islam and the Russian Orthodox Church - whose leaders have been asking the government to crack down on religious minorities.

Human rights groups around the globe had complained about the amendments, which ratcheted up penalties for unregistered religious groups such as Baptists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, and increased from 10 to 50 the minimum number of members a religious organization must have in order for it to register.

Any community smaller than that could not teach, profess their religion, own property or rent public space for religious activities. Contributions from foreigners and anonymous donors were prohibited.

“We are pleased that Kazakhstan has finally listened to the international outcry about the draconian religious registration law,” said Bennett Graham, international programs officer at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. “It is encouraging to see the balance of powers play out in this budding democracy.

“However, it is unfortunate that the Kazakh government continues to imprison and persecute members of minority religions, including members of the Hare Krishna community, Baptists and members of the Unification Church.”

In January, the oil-rich country west of China deported an American-born Hindu swami and jailed a member of the Unification Church.

Bhakti Bringha Govinda Swami of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and the head of ISKCON operations in Kazakhstan since 1997, ran into problems on a return trip from Moscow. When he tried to re-enter Kazakhstan on Jan. 27, he was detained for 12 hours, then denied entry despite having a valid visa according to ISKCON’s Web site.

Elizaveta Drenicheva, 30, a Russian and a member of the Unification Church, was sentenced Jan. 9 to two years in prison after Kazakh authorities infiltrated her meetings in Almaty, the cultural capital.

Zhanbolat Ussenov, press attache for the Kazakh Embassy, said the swami had been “carrying out missionary work without due notification” of the government before he left the country and thus could not be readmitted. As for Miss Drenicheva, she had committed “a crime against peace,” he said.

“She taught that people should be divided into sinful and righteous groups - perfect and imperfect. This is a discrimination on a religious basis. Religious experts and political scientists studied her lectures. Our court found she demeaned people based on their social and religious status,” he said.

Spokesmen for the two faiths and religious specialists said the two did nothing wrong.

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