Conducting church services in private homes and congregations meeting for worship without state approval are once again being punished in Kazakhstan after a break of around nine months. Pastor Andrei Panafidin was fined 100 times the minimum wage for leading an unregistered church service in Taraz on March 4.
According to local Baptists, this was the 7th time he was penalized for this "misdemeanor." It was the first time since last June that a member of the unregistered Baptist church had been fined. An officer from the city of Jambyl's Regional Directorate for Combating Organized Crime, who took part in raids on the congregation, insisted to Forum 18 that "it is an offence if they are not registered - all religious communities must be registered."
In the city of Shymkent, a judge has banned a local church from holding services in the building where the congregation is registered. In addition, the local authorities in Almaty, through the intervention of the secret police and the Ministry of the Interior, have banned a university from renting out its facilities to religious communities.
