By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service, which the Danish European Mission is co-founder and involved in the management of.
Officials who raided a Protestant church in Stepnogorsk, northern Kazakhstan, just as the Easter morning service was ending on March 31st have defended their actions. "The guest preacher should have had a license to preach here," maintained Duman Uvaideldinov of the Stepnogorsk police investigation department, who led the raid. "He will receive an official warning".
Pastor Igor Andreikin and others from the church are also concerned about signs that a secret "police authority" is trying to smear or blackmail them. An unidentified "police officer" tried to send two young women into the sauna where the pastor and other men from the church were staying and then send in police forces. Both the regular police and the secret police of the National Security Committee (KNB) deny involvement. Pastor Igor Andreikin told Forum 18 that he intends to take the case to the media to prevent similar methods being used in the future.
Raid
Pastor Andreikin, who lives in Temirtau, visited Stepnogorsk at the invitation of the local congregation and led several Easter-related meetings. He was finishing the service on Sunday morning, March 31, when four police officers raided the church. They were led by Chief Uvaideldinov from the Stepnogorsk Police Investigation Department. Also with them was Orynbasar Beisenbina, head of the Department of Internal Politics of the city Akimat (local administration).
"Beisenbina began to accuse me of being a missionary and carrying out illegal missions," says Pastor Andreikin. "She said I was breaking the law and should be punished." He dismissed these accusations by saying that he is an authorized pastor of his church and that the church in Stepnogorsk is allowed to invite guests to preach. "I explained to them that I was leading a service in a registered denomination and that I was not 'spreading my faith', which is the definition of 'missionary activity' in the Religion Law," says Andreikin. "The faith has already been propagated in the church. My actions do not constitute a criminal or administrative offense."
But the police didn't listen to his arguments and insisted that he and the church's pastor, Yevgeni Medvedev, go to the station and give written statements, which they were forced to accept.
The two pastors wrote down their statements, but as the police found no evidence of wrongdoing, no report was written. They were then allowed to leave. Another member of the church was also forced to give a written statement.
Also at the police station was a "religion teacher" who also wrote down a statement. He told Andreikin that he visited all the "sects" in the city "to better teach the children".
The raid took place following a complaint filed late the night before, on March 30, by Oksana Atamas, a representative of the Sana Akmola Religious Studies Consulting Center located in the regional capital Kokshetau. This is one of Kazakhstan's state-sponsored "anti-sect centers". Atamas had attended the Saturday service led by Pastor Andreikin and had been told there that he would also preach at the Sunday service.
"He must have local permission to preach"
Police Chief Uvaideldinov told Forum 18 that the raid had been carried out at the request of the city Akimat (local administration). He did not mention Atamas or the Sana Center. "The pastor was proselytizing illegally", he maintained, "he must have local permission to preach". He also said that Andreikin would receive a warning, but not when or how it would happen.
The acting head of police in Stepnogorsk, Amangeldy Akmagambetov, said that police have to respond when they receive a report from an individual. "We don't go anywhere without a report. If the law was violated, then the pastor will probably get a warning. We have sent the material to the prosecutor's office. It's not that serious - maybe it's a misunderstanding. You don't need to be worried".
The head of the Department of Internal Policy in the city's Akimat, Beisenbina, maintained that they had acted correctly: "We did the right thing - they had a guest to preach," she told Forum 18. "He was carrying out illegal missionary activity - he needs permission from the Department of Religious Affairs (ARA) for Akmola region." Asked why a religious community cannot invite anyone they want to lead a meeting or address the faithful, she replied: "We have a religion law". When asked why individuals and religious communities are not allowed to exercise their constitutional right to freedom of religion and speech, she replied: "They have freedom of religion and speech, but not if it's against the law".
When asked if Andreikin would be punished if he talked to people about football, for example, she replied that he had led a church service and that it was illegal.
Beisenbina told Forum 18 that she was a religious believer herself, but refused to say whether her religious community had ever been raided or how she would feel if it happened.
"It was entirely my initiative"
Atamas from the Sana Center maintained that she filed the complaint with the police as a "citizen and civil activist", but she admitted that she is also an employee of the internal policy department of Beisenbina. Her role is to work with young people in Stepnogorsk. "But the complaint was solely my initiative," she said.
She had complained because, according to her, something illegal had taken place because Pastor Andreikin did not have a permit. When asked why she cared whether Andreikin had a license, she replied: "Because the young people could suffer from it". It was not possible to get her to elaborate on this answer. When asked why she had been to the service, she said she had been there twice. "I was interested because young people go there".
Tightening of the religion law
In 2011, the Religion Act was tightened, including the issue of "missionaries" who must apply for permission to spread their faith. However, how they are defined is very unclear. Sharing your faith or simply talking to others about your faith without permission can be punishable by fines of up to twice the average monthly salary, which happens frequently. Possessing or distributing religious literature is also considered illegal.
A new criminal law has now been proposed that would make it possible to punish "illegal missionary activity" with up to four months in prison. However, church members maintain that when one of their pastors visits a church in another city, it cannot be considered "missionary activity".
Attempted slander or blackmail?
On the evening of Saturday, March 30, Pastor Medvedev and his son Rodion, along with Pastor Andreikin and five other church members, had arranged a trip to the local sauna. Pastor Medvedev subsequently discovered that a man claiming to be from an unnamed "law enforcement agency" had been in the sauna trying to get the employees to let two prostitutes in to the men from the church while they were alone in the sauna. "This officer emphasized that there was a very important operation going on," said Pastor Medvedev. "He said that he knew who had booked the sauna at that time and that he knew that only men would be present. He gave the names and nicknames of the prostitutes."
The sauna staff told the man that there were also children in the sauna and that they risked being reported to the police. But the man insisted that it was very important that the girls were let in and given time to take off all their clothes, and then the police would come. There were two young women standing outside the sauna when the church members arrived, says Pastor Medvedev, but the sauna staff would not let them in.
"I think that there is a 'third power' that is trying by all means to discredit us before the people of Kazakhstan and the international community," Medvedev told Forum 18.
Pastor Andreikin added that "if there really is such a 'third force' in our country, as many eyewitnesses have told us there is, then I really fear for my own safety and for the safety of our church leaders". He fears that since the lines have already been crossed, there will be nothing to stop them from planting drugs on church leaders or otherwise fabricating evidence against them. He said he would now raise the issue in the media to prevent such methods from being used in the future.
The police in Stepnogorsk denied any involvement in the incident at the sauna. So did the secret police (KNB), claiming it was the first they had heard of the case.
It is known that a number of prominent church leaders from religious communities disliked by the state are being monitored. Many of them are also on wanted lists, even though they have never been charged or investigated for crimes of any kind.
It is estimated that all religious communities are under surveillance by both the regular and secret police, but it is difficult to get churches to talk about this for fear of punishment.
Source: Forum 18 News Service
