RUSSIA: "Extremism" prosecutions continue, but Supreme Court advises caution

Russia continues to prosecute Muslim readers of the works of Said Nursi and Jehovah's Witnesses on "extremism" charges, Forum 18 News Service has found. The Supreme Court on 28 June issued an instruction warning that prosecutions of individuals on "extremism" charges should be carefully and narrowly framed. It warns that it is important to consider the individual's intention in distributing the works. If the intention is not to incite hatred or enmity or to humiliate the human dignity of others, prosecutions should not be brought. Officials have been unwilling to discuss the impact of the Supreme Court's instruction on their prosecutions of Muslims and Jehovah's Witnesses with Forum 18. Anatoly Tskhai of the Investigation Committee, for example, refused to say if he was aware of the Supreme Court decision. "Ring back in mid-August," he said and put the phone down. Currently, cases are known to be either threatened or under way in Gorno-Altaisk, Ulyanovsk, Astrakhan Region, Krasnoyarsk, Chita, Dagestan and Orenburg.

14 July 2011

ARMENIA: "A kind of theatrical farce - I see no progress"

Human rights defenders and some religious communities have expressed concern over provisions of a proposed new Religion Law and amendments to the Law on the State and the Armenian Church, and to the Criminal and Administrative Codes. They told Forum 18 News Service of their concerns over: the ban on "soul-hunting", defined as "improper proselytism", which could be punished by up to two months' imprisonment (up to two years' if done by more than one person); compulsory religious registration for communities of more than 25 adults; and vague formulations which some religious communities fear could be used against them. The Justice Ministry published the drafts on 12 July. "These proposed amendments are repressive and a lot worse than the previous version," Stepan Danielyan of the Collaboration for Democracy Centre told Forum 18. But Russian Orthodox priest Fr Arseni Grigoryants welcomed the drafts' "harsh attitude to incidents of proselytism" and "attempts to provide [juridical] mechanisms" to punish them.

12 July 2011

ARMENIA: "It would have ended badly, for them and for us"

Armenia's religious minorities face barriers to their exercising freedom of religion or belief from senior officials, politicians, media outlets and priests of the dominant Armenian Apostolic Church, several communities have told Forum 18 News Service. Owners of two separate venues, forced to cancel contracts with Jehovah's Witnesses in June, have told Forum 18 that they did so unwillingly after facing "pressure". One stated 18 that: "It would have ended badly, for them [Jehovah's Witnesses] and for us. If the meeting had gone ahead, state structures would have become involved." Also the criminal trial of a Pentecostal Pastor Vladimir Bagdasaryan, whose colleagues insist he should never have been prosecuted, nears its end in the central town of Sevan. Bagdasaryan told Forum 18 that the Prosecutor stated that he should be fined and then amnestied. "But this means I'll still be regarded as guilty and have a criminal record," he complained. Both the Collaboration For Democracy Centre and the Helsinki Committee of Armenia have documented numerous instances of official and media intolerance, leading to denials of freedom of religion or belief.

7 July 2011

ARMENIA: European Court finds conscientious objector was wrongfully convicted and jailed – but what will government do?

The European Court of Human Rights has today (7 July) published a Grand Chamber judgment finding that Armenia violated Vahan Bayatyan's right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Bayatyan, an Armenian Jehovah's Witness, was imprisoned from September 2002 to July 2003 for refusal on grounds of conscience to perform compulsory military service. Armenia currently has 69 prisoners of conscience – all Jehovah's Witnesses – in jail for refusing conscription. Armenian officials gave only cautious responses to the verdict to Forum 18 News Service, but Jehovah's Witnesses noted to Forum 18 that it should both lead to the prisoners of conscience being freed, and "help our fellow believers who are facing the same issue in Azerbaijan and Turkey". Armenia claims amendments to the Alternative Service Law now in Parliament will take the current alternative service out of the control of the military. But the wording of the amendments is unclear and does not unambiguously state this. Lieutenant Colonel Sasun Simonyan, who was involved in preparing the amendments, told Forum 18 that – as at present - anyone doing alternative service who violated their terms of service would be dealt with by the Military Prosecutor's Office.

5 July 2011

KAZAKHSTAN: "Absurd" criminal charge for praying for the sick

Pastor Yerzhan Ushanov of the New Life Protestant Church in Taraz could face up to two years' imprisonment if criminal charges of harming an individual's health, brought by the KNB secret police, reach court. The KNB claim a visitor to the church suffered after Pastor Ushanov prayed for him using hypnosis, the second time the secret police have brought such charges against a Protestant pastor in Jambyl Region. "This is not the first time the authorities in southern regions of Kazakhstan bring such absurd accusations against pastors for allegedly using hypnosis, while in reality all they do is pray for the sick," New Life Church members complained to Forum 18 News Service. The police Department for the Fight against Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism then raided the Church's Sunday worship after an alleged complaint of food poisoning and the KNB searched Pastor Ushanov's home. The KNB secret police, as well as the ordinary police Department for the Fight against Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism, both refused to comment on the case to Forum 18.

4 July 2011

BELARUS: "Clergy access is something exceptional in pre-trial detention centres"

Three months after his arrest, the closed trial of Grodno-based journalist Andrzej Poczobut on charges of slandering Belarus' president is likely to conclude tomorrow (5 July) with the verdict. He has been denied a visit from a priest since his April arrest. "He is a true Roman Catholic and all this time in detention he has asked for a priest more than once, but the prison administration always found excuses not to grant it," his wife Aksana Poczobut complained to Forum 18. One of the two Catholic prison chaplains, Fr Kazimir Zylis, told Forum 18 he has been waiting for permission from the Prosecutor's Office to visit Poczobut. Forum 18 also knows of pre-trial detainees denied clergy visits in the KGB secret police detention centre in the capital Minsk and in the city's Detention Centre No. 1, which is run by the Interior Ministry. "Clergy access is something exceptional in pre-trial detention centres," Oleg Gulak of the Belarusian Helsinki Committee told Forum 18.

30 June 2011

RUSSIA: 18-month prison term and heavy fine

Asylzhan Kelmukhambetov, a Muslim who reads the works of the theologian Said Nursi, is due to appeal against his 18-month prison term on extremism-related charges, his lawyer Rauila Rogacheva told Forum 18 News Service. Kelmukhambetov, who suffers from diabetes, was arrested at the end of the year-long trial on 28 June when the verdict was handed down and is now in prison hospital in Orenburg. An FSB security service spokesperson defended the prosecution to Forum 18. A court in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk has heavily fined a Muslim organisation for teaching Islam without an educational licence, although Russia's Supreme Court has ruled in a similar case that such licences are not needed. "People have been deprived of their rights to teach and receive religious education," Mufti Gayaz Fatkullin complained to Forum 18. An official of Russia's Human Rights Ombudsperson's Office described the case to Forum 18 as "stupidity and a violation of the rights of religious believers".

29 June 2011

RUSSIA: "One complex of measures against religious communities"

Many criminal and administrative cases against religious communities "take place with violations of the right to freedom of conscience, violations of the rights of religious organisations and violations of the separation of church and state," Mikhail Odintsov, the top official dealing with religious issues at the office of Russia's Human Rights Ombudsperson, told Forum 18 News Service. He regards the many such cases as "one complex of measures against religious communities". Among cases causing his Office concern are the ban on the activity of Khabarovsk's Grace Church, which the Church is challenging in Russia's Supreme Court on 5 July, and the ban on materials distributed by New Generation Church in Blagoveshchensk, which will also appeal to the Supreme Court. Grace Church's Pastor Vladimir Pak is also being investigated on criminal charges carrying an eight-year prison term for allegedly harming health. "This is a very serious and worrying development, that church leaders face possible criminal prosecution for their activities in the church," the church's lawyer Inna Zagrebina told Forum 18.

28 June 2011

TAJIKISTAN: "This is not the first time.."

Police in Tajikistan continue to try to suppress unregistered Muslim education throughout the country, Forum 18 News Service notes. Police General Sharif Nazarov told Forum 18 that "this is not the first time we have exposed illegal religious teachers, and given them administrative fines". Examples of such "offences" include three women fined for "just teaching how to read the Koran" to groups of young girls in their private homes without state permission, a Muslim who wished to remain unnamed for fear of state reprisals, told Forum 18. The three taught children the Arabic alphabet and so how to read to Koran. Similarly, police north of the capital Dushanbe are preparing charges against the Imam of an officially registered mosque, for teaching five children aged between nine and 17 in his private home. However, in Dushanbe the authorities have temporarily eased the mosque closure campaign. Some Muslims in the country suspect that this is for fear of the impact of the Arab Spring uprisings against dictatorships.

27 June 2011

TURKEY: Can a new Constitution solve religious freedom problems?

Following the AKP's general election victory, political attention in Turkey has turned to the long-awaited new Constitution, Forum 18 News Service notes. It appears that a consensus may exist among Turkey's liberals, leading civil society organisations, religious minorities, legal academics, and the main opposition party, the CHP, that the new Constitution should uphold the right to freedom of religion or belief. Many would not object to this as an ideal, but attention to the detail of the proposals is essential. The AKP's past record would suggest that any predictions of its response should be cautious. Indeed, it is unclear what the AKP itself would propose. It is vital that the new Constitution enshrines full guarantees of freedom of religion or belief for all, fully in line with Turkey's international human rights obligations. But on its own - without good laws, regulations and state actions - a Constitution can only have a limited impact in generating practical change in the daily lives of people belonging to minority religious and belief communities.

24 June 2011

KYRGYZSTAN: Jail terms overturned, but investigation continues

Batken Regional Court in southern Kyrgyzstan has overturned seven-year prison terms imposed on two cousins who are Jehovah's Witnesses, Forum 18 News Service has learned. However, despite this, the Court specifically stated that it rejected the two men's appeal. Instead of being exonerated and freed, the two - Iskandar Kambarov and Jonibek Nosirov - still face possible prosecution and remain in pre-trial detention. "We hope that reason will prevail and they will now be freed," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. The two men had been found guilty of having two discs which police say were from the Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamist movement. Kambarov and Nosirov say the discs were not theirs and were planted on them. Batken Regional Court also ordered that "in order to remedy the gaps in the investigation process" the case should be sent for further investigation, and ordered that the two cousins should pay costs. Officials continue to defend the prosecution to Forum 18. Local Jehovah's Witnesses state that the two men remain "in good spirits".

22 June 2011

TAJIKISTAN: Bans on children's religious activity, illegal meetings, and "extremist religious" teaching close?

Tajikistan's controversial Parental Responsibility Law - approved by Parliament's Lower Chamber on 15 June – may soon be approved in the Upper House and by the President. Under it the only children allowed to participate in any religious activity, apart from funerals, will be those at state-approved religious education establishments. Many think this is aimed at Muslims, who only have around 80 state-approved establishments throughout the country. Also approved in the Lower House the same day were new Criminal Code amendments specifically extending punishments for unapproved meetings to religious meetings, and imposing harsh prison terms for "religious extremist" teaching. However, "religious extremist" teaching is not defined and could extend to any religious teaching without state approval, Forum 18 News Service notes. "Prosecutors and Courts will be able to distinguish between what is just unauthorised religious education, which will receive Administrative punishment, and what is religious extremism, which will be criminally liable," Sattor Kholov, the Deputy who led the Lower Chamber discussion of the Criminal Code amendments, claimed to Forum 18.