A Baptist pastor, Valery Pak, fined last spring for refusing to register his church with the authorities, was punished in October with a five-day spell in prison, Keston News Service has learnt. Although Kazakhstan's religion law does not require religious groups to register to be allowed to function, prosecutors are increasingly relying on an article of the administrative code introduced last year which renders the activity of unregistered religious organisations liable to punishment. Two other Baptist pastors are known to be facing charges for leading unregistered churches.
According to local Baptist sources, Asylbek Nurdanov was severely assaulted and threatened at his local police station on 27 October in the town of Kazalinsk in Kyzyl-Orda region close to the Aral Sea in southern Kazakhstan. One officer threatened to cut his tongue out with scissors if he did not renounce his faith. The local police chief admitted to Keston News Service that the church had been searched and Nurdanov questioned, but denied absolutely that he had been beaten or threatened, accusing him of lying. In an echo of similar moves elsewhere against unregistered Baptist churches in Kazakhstan, the police chief claimed that the Kazalinsk church was functioning illegally as it does not have registration.
(Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org/)