As reported in Forum 18, there were 279 known administrative prosecutions in Kazakhstan to punish the exercising of freedom of religion or belief in 2017. Of these, 259 resulted in punishment: fines, short-term jail terms, deportations, worship bans, seizures and destruction of religious literature.
Muslims, Protestants (especially Council of Churches Baptists), Jehovah's Witnesses and commercial sellers were the primary targets of these prosecutions
Forum 18 reports that for the most part, fines ran to the equivalent of from three weeks to as much as six months of average wages.
Courts ordered seized religious literature to be destroyed, including, for probably the first time, a copy of the Koran.
Four foreign citizens were initially ordered deported. Cases against two were overturned on appeal.
The full list of these actions is available on Forum 18.
From its beginnings, the Church of Scientology has recognized that freedom of religion is a fundamental human right. In a world where conflicts are often traceable to intolerance of others’ religious beliefs and practices, the Church has, for more than fifty years, made the preservation of religious liberty an overriding concern.
From persecution of religious minorities to issues revolving around religious worship, beliefs, rites, expression, association, dress, symbols, education, registration and workplace discrimination, religious freedom issues have achieved a prominent place in global headlines.
The Church publishes this blog to help create a better understanding of the freedom of religion and belief and provide news on religious freedom and issues affecting this freedom around the world.
