Religious Freedom
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the various religious communities worship largely without government interference. The generally amicable relationship among religions in Kazakh society contributes to religious freedom. Despite all this, the Government has encouraged local officials to limit the practice of religion by some nontraditional groups.
Forum 18, the Oslo-based religious-rights organization, reported in 2005 that Jehovah's Witnesses, Protestant groups and Hare Krishna followers, as well as Islamic groups not controlled by the state, have been targets of state hostility.
In 2005 and 2006 the state had persistently and repeatedly tried to close down the only Hare Krishna farming community in the entire Commonwealth of Independent States.
On November 20, 2006, three buses full of riot police, two ambulances, two empty lorries, and executors of the Karasai district arrived at the community in sub-zero weather and evicted the Hare Krishna followers from thirteen homes, which the police proceeded to demolish. The Forum 18 News Service reported, "Riot police who took part in the destruction threw personal belongings of the Hare Krishna devotees into the snow, and many devotees were left without clothes. Power for lighting and heating systems had been cut off before the demolition began. Furniture and larger household belongings were loaded onto trucks. Officials said these possessions would be destroyed. Two men who tried to prevent the bailiffs from entering a house to destroy it were seized by 15 police officers who twisted their hands and took them away to the police car." The Hare Krishna community had been promised that no action would be taken before the report of a state commission – supposedly set up to resolve the dispute – was made public. On the day the demolition began, the commission's chairman, Amanbek Mukhashev, told Forum 18, "I know nothing about the demolition of the Hare Krishna homes – I'm on holiday." He added, "As soon as I return to work at the beginning of December we will officially announce the results of the Commission's investigation." Other officials also refused to comment.
In January 2008, under the new Article 164 'religious organizations' law, Kazakh secret police arrested Unification Church missionary Elizaveta Drenicheva. As reported by Kazakhstan's television news, she was sentenced to two years in prison, simply for lecturing about the Divine Principle, her church's basic theology. Kazakhstan's own government Human Rights office protested her conviction.
Read more about this topic: Human Rights In Kazakhstan
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