Armenia; Belarus; Nagorno-Karabakh; Serbia; COMMENTARY;

FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway http://www.forum18.org/

The right to believe, to worship and witness The right to change one's belief or religion The right to join together and express one's belief

17 May 2005 ARMENIA: NOT ILLEGAL DEPORTATION, MERELY ILLEGAL REMOVAL http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=563 Jehovah's Witness conscientious objector Armen Grigoryan faces a six year jail sentence, after his illegal deportation from his own country, Armenia, and his refusal to do military service in the unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh republic, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. But Armenia's Human Rights Ombudsperson, Larisa Alaverdyan, denied to Forum 18 that Grigoryan had been deported. "You can't call it illegal deportation - there's no such term. I'm a specialist on this. Perhaps it might have been illegal removal from the country." She defended what she claimed was the right of the Armenian Defence Ministry to send Armenian citizens to Nagorno-Karabakh, which international law regards as part of Azerbaijan. Armenia continues to break its promises to the Council of Europe to free conscientious objectors and introduce a civilian alternative to military service. Baptists and Jehovah's Witnesses continue to be beaten up and jailed for conscientious objection.

19 May 2005 BELARUS: PRESSURE ON MINSK CHARISMATIC CHURCH RESUMES http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=565 Vasily Yurevich, administrator of New Life charismatic church in Minsk, faces new charges of repeatedly organising "illegal" worship, five months after he was fined 150 times the minimum monthly wage for the same "offence". He told Forum 18 News Service he was summoned by police on 18 May to be informed of the new charges, two weeks after his appeal against the earlier fine was rejected. The church's pastor, Vyacheslav Goncharenko, has also been fined twice. The authorities say the church's use of a former cowshed for services is illegal as the building has not been designated for religious use. The 600-strong church has already been denied official registration, meaning that all its activity is therefore illegal. In April Minsk city administration issued the church with a third official warning, though two are enough for a court to close down a religious organisation.

20 May 2005 NAGORNO-KARABAKH: BAPTIST FACES TWO YEARS JAIL OR TWO YEARS FORCED LABOUR http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=566 Baptist conscript Gagik Mirzoyan faces either being jailed or sent to do forced labour for two years for refusing, on religious grounds, to swear the military oath, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Mirzoyan has been beaten up several times in two different military units in Nagorno-Karabakh since being called up last December, when he refused to serve with weapons. He has also been detained for more than 10 days for sharing his faith with other soldiers and possessing several Christian calendars. Mirzoyan's trial has now been set for June and fellow Baptists have told Forum 18 that the "harsh reality" of the maltreatment Baptist conscripts suffered in the Soviet era is returning. Gagik Mirzoyan's congregation has earlier faced harassment from the Karabakh authorities and other Protestants and religious minorities, especially Jehovah's Witnesses, have faced restrictions on their activity.

16 May 2005 SERBIA: ORTHODOX VETO ON NEW RELIGION LAW? http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=562 The long delay in completing the text of a new religion law is being caused by the Serbian government waiting for comments from the Serbian Orthodox Church, sources close to the government have told Forum 18 News Service. The government is not commenting on the cause of the delay. "There are no statements for the press and no information," Religion Minister Milan Radulovic told Forum 18. "When the time comes, all will be informed." Earlier drafts of the law met strong criticisms from religious minorities and the Council of Europe, and there seems to be a level of legal confusion which has led to Serbia's Baptist Union facing a suspended fine.

18 May 2005 COMMENTARY: KAZAKH BELIEVERS - AND NATIONAL SECURITY - WILL SUFFER http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=564 Wide-ranging national security amendments now in parliament will negatively affect many groups - including the media, NGOs, business people and religious communities - but religious believers will suffer the most, argues Aleksandr Klyushev, chairman of the Association of Religious Organisations of Kazakhstan (AROK), in this personal commentary for Forum 18 News Service http://www.forum18.org . If adopted, these amendments will cause unjustified suffering to law-abiding believers, who could be punished for peacefully practising their faith. He believes national security will suffer as they will also allow incompetent law-enforcement personnel to claim successes in combating illegal but harmless religious organisations instead of effectively policing real threats to Kazakh society. He calls on the international community to influence the Kazakh government not to adopt the amendments. * See full article below. *

18 May 2005 COMMENTARY: KAZAKH BELIEVERS - AND NATIONAL SECURITY - WILL SUFFER

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=564 By Aleksandr Klyushev, Association of Religious Organisations of Kazakhstan

Here in Kazakhstan, when our legislators speak of religious leaders one gets the impression they are speaking about dangerous people who cause harm to the nation. But in civilised countries it is widely acknowledged that religious leaders have a legitimate place in society, heading spiritual, moral and social organisations and initiatives. Dedicated religious leaders aim to serve people and God, thus bringing much good to society - for example by encouraging people to help their neighbour. But what a crude and discriminatory attitude our legislators show towards them! This is in stark contrast to their attitude to business leaders. Distrust towards religious leaders is, in my view, a legacy of the Soviet-era thinking still deeply embedded in the consciousness of society.

This distrust shows itself in proposals such as the draft law "On additions and amendments to laws of the Republic of Kazakhstan relating to national security", which has caused great concern in Kazakhstan and beyond. Its provisions significantly restrict the fundamental rights and freedoms guaranteed in our Constitution and in international treaties our state has freely ratified (see F18News 3 May 2005 http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=561).

The Association of Religious Associations of Kazakhstan, which I chair, actively lobbied the working groups in the Majilis, Kazakhstan's lower parliamentary chamber. We managed to achieve some compromises, as a result of which a number of harmful amendments to the religion law were either changed or dropped. In particular, the understanding of missionary activity was changed, where the original draft would have targeted all religious believers who openly expressed their religious views. The original draft had also proposed a very complex process for registering missionaries, significantly limiting the rights of every believer. Other provisions we managed to get changed included one limiting parents' rights to give their children a religious upbringing and another giving public prosecutors the right to close down religious organisations before a court ruling.

But the legislation is still so broad that it allows religious organisations to be punished for almost any alleged offence, such as trimming trees to improve their appearance without the necessary permission, also late payments to the budget, or the absence of a sign at the entrance in the Kazakh language (if there is a sign in Russian).

One of the most outrageous proposals still left is requiring the compulsory state registration of religious organisations. This not only contradicts our Constitution and current law, but also harms the country's reputation at home and abroad. For example, Kazakhstan freely accepted obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the compulsory registration violates Article 18 of the ICCPR. This states that "freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations (.) necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others."

When I look at these legislative proposals, the words of Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Soviet secret police, come to my mind: "If you do not have a criminal record it does not mean that you have not broken the law but that we have not been working properly." If you try hard enough you can always find some violation of the law by any religious organisation, even those most punctilious in obeying the law. Do we see, for example, many Orthodox churches today with the required sign in Kazakh as well as in Russian?

For this and many other similar - even inadvertent - legal violations, the proposals before parliament call for punishment to be imposed without a right of appeal, as if parliament were rushing hasty legislation through to deal with especially dangerous international terrorists. Legislators' legal illiteracy and incompetence in religious matters can be seen as nothing less than hatred for their own voters - many of whom are religious believers.

As in other countries, there are in Kazakhstan believers who as a matter of religious principle cannot accept that the state has the right to demand compulsory registration, but are otherwise law-abiding citizens who are happy to invite the authorities to attend their public worship. Such citizens were persecuted in Soviet times, but taking salary levels in today's Kazakhstan into account, the fines proposed today for refusing this demand of the state are 50 to 100 times higher than under the atheist Soviet regime. And all this under the banner of "national security" and "combating extremism".

Justice Ministry officials and parliamentary deputies often tell me that compulsory state registration is necessary "so that we won't have incidents like the Beslan school siege in Russia". This argument only testifies to absolute incompetence, both legal and logical, in such matters. Do officials and deputies really believe that the terrorists responsible for the Beslan tragedy would have been stopped if they were required to register as a legal religious organisation at the Justice Ministry? I myself do not share this astounding belief in the powers of state religious bureaucracy over non-religious terrorists.

Sadly, one can be quite certain that proposals such as this damage our national security by creating unnecessary tension in society. Still worse, they allow incompetent law-enforcement personnel to claim successes in combating illegal but harmless religious organisations instead of effectively policing threats to our society from criminals such as terrorists. Similar provisions were adopted eight years ago in neighbouring Uzbekistan. The tragedies being enacted now in that unhappy country give us no confidence that we should follow the Uzbek model. Why do our legislators look to countries with massive political and social problems for a model to emulate, and take offence when urged to follow the example of free, democratic countries?

The draft amendments to eleven of our laws were rushed through the lower parliamentary chamber, the Majilis, without time for deputies to examine them in detail. As I write, the draft law has been sent to the upper chamber, the Senate, for approval. The unrest that broke out in Andijan in Uzbekistan on 13 May will only hasten the authorities' desire to get these amendments approved as fast as possible, just as earlier impetus to adopting these draconian restrictions was given by the overthrow of the old regimes in Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan.

If the Senate approves these amendments without detailed examination and modification and they are then sent to President Nursultan Nazarbayev for signature, religious believers and all who care for human rights and our national security must hope that our president will refer the proposals to the Constitutional Council to examine whether they accord with the Constitution. After all, these proposals do not conform to the president's stated views on religion policy.

Although the amendments will negatively affect a whole range of groups - including the media, non-governmental organisations, business people and religious communities - it is religious believers who will suffer the most. Only rarely are people prepared to go to prison for their political ideas. But religion is higher than people's lives. If adopted, these amendments will cause unjustified suffering to believers who are law-abiding citizens.

The international community - the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, other governments and religious groups around the world - must try to influence our government not to make the mistake of adopting these amendments. Our government must have the courage to listen to well-meaning advice from abroad. The international community has great legislative experience - experience which unlike ours is not tainted with past Soviet practices. I am sure it will be positive in its recommendations. Meanwhile, believers here can only pray and appeal to the Senate not to adopt this draft law.

For more background, see Forum 18's Kazakhstan religious freedom survey at http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=249

A printer-friendly map of Kazakhstan is available at http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=kazakh (END)

© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855

You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to F18News http://www.forum18.org/

Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at http://www.forum18.org/

SUBSCRIBE here: http://www.forum18.org/Subscribe.php and enter your e-mail address for either the full or the weekly edition.

- Or send an empty e-mail to (for the full edition):

(for the weekly edition):

UNSUBSCRIBE here: http://www.forum18.org/Subscribe.php and enter your e-mail address for either the full or the weekly edition.

- Or send an empty e-mail to (for the full edition):

(for the weekly edition):

If you need to contact F18News, please email us at:

Forum 18 Postboks 6663 Rodeløkka N-0502 Oslo NORWAY