Below is the press release:
Read more about the case here...
Searches and allegations of fraud
On Good Friday, March 25, 2016, two days before Easter, at around 10 am local time (GMT+6), 10 local police teams began conducting searches at the New Life Bible Center in Almaty, Kazakhstan - as well as the homes of the church's pastors. The searches were conducted based on search warrants dated January 19, 2016. The warrants state that the searches were conducted as part of the investigation of a criminal case reported on July 29, 2015 under Article 190, paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan. Please note that all the conditions for the searches were already approved on January 19, 2016, but the actual searches took place only on March 25, 2016. Question: Why did it take so long to file charges and conduct searches?
None of the pastors at New Life Bible Center were charged with anything, and none of them were ever brought into the office of the person in charge of the case, none of them had been told not to leave the country and none of them had been made aware of the official ban on leaving Kazakhstan.
At the same time as the search warrants were presented, it was also hinted that during the interrogation of a number of people - both witnesses and victims - it was allegedly discovered that certain religious organizations are involved in commercial activity, making money illegally and transferring money abroad by using illegal psychotherapeutic and psychological techniques to induce church members to give them money, jewelry and other belongings, including real estate.
However, we still do not know the names of those who have made these accusations and have not been made aware of their statements and claims.
We hereby officially declare: New Life Bible Center is a religious organization and is not involved in any kind of commercial activities, makes no money and does not use psychotherapy or psychological techniques and has never robbed or defrauded church members of money, jewelry or other belongings and real estate.
Police footage appears on TV channel
On the day of the searches, March 25, some media outlets immediately accessed police video footage and began covering the news as follows: "Exclusive: Envelopes with money and ... found during searches of New Life Church pastors' homes. New Life pastors suspected of fraud," and the like.
How did the police investigation footage of the searches of the church pastors' houses get on the news if the reporters from the news media were not present during the searches and were not authorized to be there? Who authorized the handover of video material classified as "secret investigation" to KTK (nationwide TV station)? What happened to the principle of innocent until proven guilty?
At the same time that none of the pastors have yet been charged with anything, this TV channel is freely breaking the story and reviewing their private lives using footage from police investigation videos of their homes!!! They show the entire country privately owned jewelry worn by Larisa Maksimova, one of the church's pastors, as well as footage showing how the investigators who searched her home ask her ridiculous questions like: "Do you sell this jewelry? What do you use it for?" But it's clear to anyone that any woman can own jewelry.
During the search on the morning of the 25th, Larisa was not given time to get ready. She was not warned that footage of the search would be released to the media and, as required by Kazakhstan law, she never gave permission for footage of her to be shown anywhere.
All of this points to the fact that the whole case of searching for evidence was a farce aimed at publicly humiliating a pastor's wife. The public portrayal of the family's life had only one purpose: to create a negative image of evangelical Christians in the country.
We want answers to the following questions: How did the national TV channel get hold of the police footage? According to Kazakhstan's criminal procedure, this type of footage cannot be made public. Moreover, none of the investigative or judicial authorities had completed their work at the time and none of the pastors had been presented with any charges when the searches took place. We demand an explanation from the police and channel KTK.
Misleading information
The Kazakh media carried a story reporting that: Envelopes marked 'tithe' were found full of cash and seized from the pastors' homes. This story was presented in a way that made it seem as if they were imposters who had been caught with evidence.
We are evangelical Christians and we have a religious practice of voluntarily giving gifts called tithing. The cash collected in the Easter gift envelope was seized by police as evidence of fraud.
And once again we must ask the question: under what law is a voluntary gift considered fraud? It is surprising that the TV channels and the police did not take the time to explain that the money in the envelope was a gift that had been set aside by the Maksimov family so that they could give it to the House of God for the celebration of Easter.
All this looks like a manipulation of public opinion. When the media come and make a lot of noise and say, "The money was found in an envelope and confiscated by the police!", you get the impression that this whole farce is a deliberate attempt to discredit evangelical Christians and that it has been ordered by someone.
About the seized deeds on properties and land
The media claims that deeds to properties and land belonging to Almaty residents (the alleged victims) were seized during the searches. Everyone who owns real estate keeps originals and copies of deeds in their homes. Similarly, pastors kept deeds to their properties in their homes and it was these that were found by police during the searches. No deeds were found for any properties or land other than those belonging to church members. This was not mentioned in the media either. Instead, they have come up with half-truths or outright falsehoods that misappropriated deeds belonging to Almaty residents (victims) were found during the searches. On the contrary - the pastors are also residents of Almaty and the deeds belong to them. Why did these TV channels not report that only deeds belonging to the pastors were found during the searches?
New Life Church pastors flee the country
Image: Pastor Ivan (left) and Vadim (right) at the airport.
As proof, we have receipts for airline tickets purchased on January 18, 2016 for Sergey Zaikina and Larisa Maksimova. The tickets were promotional tickets with fixed dates and could not be returned. This trip was not an escape from the country due to police searches - it was an already planned business trip. Yet the media is quick to make accusations that "They are fleeing!" etc. It all points to someone coordinating the actions of the police and media to discredit the church pastors.
We would like to point out once again that the tickets were purchased in advance on January 18 with departure on March 28.
The media also reported that Pastor Vadim Martynov and Ivan Kryukov were detained at the Kazakhstan-Kyrgyzstan border. The word 'detention' means a short-term deprivation of liberty of a person suspected of a crime by placing him in custody.
In reality, no one was detained, arrested or charged. Pastor Ivan Kryukov was able to travel across the border without any problems, but Pastor Vadim Martynov was not allowed to leave the country. It was verbally explained to him that the KNB (Kazakhstan National Security Committee) had stopped his departure, but he was not provided with any documentation. He was handed a document mentioning the articles of the law, but this document contained no information about the name and title of the person who handed it over and therefore it had no legal validity. In solidarity, Ivan Kryukov decided to cancel his trip to Kyrgyzstan and returned to Almaty with Vadim Martynov.
The chronology of what happened is as follows: On March 25, searches are carried out at the church and the pastors' homes, and early in the morning of the 28th, Sergey Zaikin and Larisa Maksimova leave the country freely. Note that they do not flee, but leave on a planned business trip with pre-booked tickets.
All of this seems to indicate that the purpose of news coverage like KTK's is to discredit New Life's pastors.
Non-random cases
Please note that after the plane tickets were purchased on January 18, the very next day - January 19 - the judge on the case signs a warrant authorizing the search of the church. And on March 25, two months after the warrant was signed, the searches were carried out - just days before the flight. Why did they wait two months? Perhaps someone knew that the trip was scheduled for the early morning of March 28, just a few days after the search, so they could present it in a certain way to someone and say: "The leaders of New Life are fleeing abroad"?
Illegal weapons and ammunition in church
Image: The image a media outlet used, which turned out to be from Russia.
We declare: No weapons (legal or illegal) or ammunition whatsoever have been found in the New Life Bible Center. Evidence of this can be found in the records of the search, copies of which we have obtained.
If weapons were found in the church, why weren't they confiscated? Where is the footage of the weapons that were found? Where is the ammunition storage? Why has no one been arrested for storing illegal weapons in the New Life buildings?
After analyzing the events around us, it is clear that this is a fabricated "scandal" set up by the police and the media.
We appeal to the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, journalists and police officials. We ask you to protect our legal rights, as these actions hurt and violate the religious feelings of citizens and incite religious strife and unrest in our society.
Almaty, Kazakhstan
- March 2016
