ATYRAU / BUDAPEST (ANS) -- Baptist Christians in Kazakstan are pressured to no
longer express their faith in Christ publicly while their leader is facing
possible jail time for refusing to stop bible study meetings in his home,
reports said Monday, November 11.
The small Baptist community in Atyrau, a municipality near the Caspian Sea in
north-western Kazakstan, have been threatened by police forces and authorities
to end their activities, reported the Keston News Service (KNS).
Baptist church leader Kormangazy Abdumuratov said the pressure increased
September 8 "when police and officers of the National Security
Committee", the former KGB-secret service, "raided" his
apartment where eight Baptists were studying the Bible.
"They searched every room, asking who owned the religious books and Bibles
they found. Then they began to write out an official report on them for holding
a church meeting "unlawfully," KNS said, quoting Abdumuratov.
VIDEO FOOTAGE
Two of the officers reportedly went back to their cars and returned with a
camera and video recorder. "They filmed each person separately, and took
video footage of all the books and Bibles they could find and of each room of
the apartment."
The raid resembled the Communist era when Kazakstan was still part of the
Soviet Union. KNS said that the Baptists were forced into cars and taken to the
police headquarters for interrogation. After up to two hours everyone was
released except Abdumuratov.
The police allegedly told him to write a statement declaring that he would stop
holding religious meetings in his home or otherwise face prison, KNS said.
THREATS
"When Abdumuratov refused, the police threatened him with imprisonment
because he had been caught three times taking part in unregistered religious
meetings. One policeman even hit him. However, after six hours he was
released."
Orinbasar Kushkenbayev, a captain from the internal affairs administration
defended the police's action saying Abdumuratov's was responsible for
"unlawful religious meetings" that "were regularly being held
there."
Meanwhile hostile television footage warning the public was shown on the
Baptists after Abdumuratov was expelled from the Institute where he studied for
his religious believes.
"DANGEROUS CULT"
"The television commentator reported that the Baptists were a
"dangerous cult" that deceived people and took children away from
their parents. He also claimed that its leaders demanded large sums of money
from people once they had become members," KNS reported.
Atyrau Television also warned the public not to accept religious books from
anyone other than the official mosque and to be on their guard against
religious "cults" of this kind in the mainly Islam nation of about 17
million people.
The tv-program seemed to undermine Abdumuratov's chances to be re-admitted as a
student at the Atyrau Oil and Gas institute.
"We don't need a student like you," he quoted the institute's faculty
head as saying during a meeting where several other officials gathered.
"Your influence will ruin our other students. You won't be studying at our
institute any longer. Leave Atyrau and go back...to where you cane from."
Authorities have reportedly also pressured him to end his work as pastor in
another Baptist church in the region. The pressure on Baptists in Kazakstan
comes amid growing pressure on Christians in the former Soviet Union.