RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Kazakh officers disciplined for harassing Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors

YOU WANT TO SERVE—A STAR; YOU DO NOT WANT—PRISON BARS

Radio Azattyk, 23 October 2017

 

In Ust-Kamenogorsk, personnel of the Department of Defense were held to disciplinary accountability: they sent to the police "for refusal of military service" cases of conscripts who refused to go into the army on the basis of religious convictions and  who presented certificates of clergy of the Christian Society of Jehovah's Witnesses. In the autumn, all these cases were dismissed for lack of evidence of a crime.

 

Agenda

 

Twenty-two-year-old Tlek Zhumagazinov from Ust-Kamenogorsk, who works as a janitor, told Azattyka that in the spring he was summoned by telephone to the local military commissariat. He collected the necessary documents, went to the medical commission, and then said that he will not serve on the basis of considerations of conscience and religious confession. Zhumagazinov said that he "presented to them (the military—Azattyk) a document that he is a clergyman of the "Christian Society of Jehovah's Witnesses." A week later he was phoned by the police and told that a criminal case had been opened for refusal to serve in the army and he was summoned to an interrogation where he was asked why he does not want to serve in the army.

 

Some take up arms, but I do not want to do this and I do not want to study this

 

"It is written in the Bible that we will not study war and the Bible says: love your neighbor as yourself. How can I go to war against my neighbors, brothers, and friends and kill somebody? In Russia and Ukraine there also are my brothers—Jehovah's Witnesses. If they also will take up arms, then we will kill one another and then where will be the love among us? Some take up arms, but I do not want to do this and I do not want to study this," Tlek Zhumagazinov says.

 

He says that he is prepared to go to jail for his religious convictions, which he has maintained for the last two years.

 

In the neighboring city of Semei, police also began a pretrial investigation against 23-year-old unemployed Adilzhan Iskakov, who now is seeking work in the field of finance.

 

"We do not violate the law. They summon us and we go. I explained my position with regard to myself and they understood me. This is my decision; the organization (Jehovah's Witnesses—Azattyk) has nothing to do with it. I told them that my conscience does not permit me to go into the army and to bear arms. There also is article 36, part 6, of the law on military services: it says there that a clergyman cannot serve," Adilzhan Iskakov says.

 

Iskakov says that he did not understand why his case was sent to the Department of Internal Affairs.

 

On 3 September, Iskakov learned that the criminal case against him was dismissed. From the order ending the pretrial investigation it follows that the police sent an inquiry to Almaty to the head office of the Christian Society of Jehovah's Witnesses, which confirmed that Adilzhan Iskakov is a clergyman.

 

Azattyk has also learned of at least two instances of prosecution of adherents of Jehovah's Witnesses by the police because of refusal to serve in the army.

 

Without an alternative

 

In the Ministry of Defense, Azattyk was told that "existing legislation of the republic of Kazakhstan does not provide for alternative civilian service instead of conscript military service." According to subpoint 6 of point 1 of article 36 of the law "On military service and the status of service personnel," clergy of registered religious associations are exempt from conscription into military service during peace time.

 

Also the Ministry of Defense reported that pretrial investigations regarding followers of Jehovah's Witnesses have been terminated, since they presented to the military commissariat certificates that they are members of the religious association of the Christian Center of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is registered in justice agencies, and they are clergymen and have ecclesiastical rank as devoted and baptized Jehovah's Witnesses.

 

At the present time, the aforesaid pretrial investigations have been terminated because of lack of evidence of criminal violations of law.

 

"The basis for exemption from the draft of conscript military service for A.A. Iskakov is restriction due to the state of his health. At the same time, materials regarding T.K. Zhumagazinov without an explanation of all circumstances were sent by officials of the Department of Defense of the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk of the East Kazakhstan province to the Department of Internal Affairs of the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk for verification of the presence (absence) of evidence of violation of law under article 387 of the Criminal Code of the republic of Kazakhstan (refusing military service).  At the present time, the aforesaid pretrial investigations have been terminated for lack of actions constituting criminal offense. Within the framework of review of this inquiry, verifications were conducted on the basis of which guilty officials of the Department of Defense of the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk were held to disciplinary accountability," the Minister of Defense replied to Azattyk.

 

The Ministry of Internal Affairs also told Azattyk that the pretrial investigation had been terminated.

 

Attorney Natalia Kononenko said that before this year opening criminal cases against such conscripts was rare and in the cases themselves, from the very start, there was no substance of a crime. She notes that this is part of a recent intensification in Kazakhstan of pressure on the organization of the Christian Society of Jehovah's Witnesses itself.

 

On 17 October, in the specialized district administrative court of Astana, the proceedings in a case of possession of literature "containing signs of inciting strife" against the head of the Christian Society of Jehovah's Witnesses of the city of Astana, Dmitry Bukin, also were halted. Judge Kanat Imanaliev also issued a partial decision with respect to the Department of Religious Affairs of Astana, Bukin's attorney, Natalia Kononenko, says.

 

The reason for the proceedings in court was a report of an administrative violation of law that was composed by the chief specialist, an attorney for the Department for Religious Affairs of Astana, Almazbek Mambetov. During a search in January of this year in the premises of the Christian Society of Jehovah's Witnesses," 15 religious books were confiscated with such titles as "What does the Bible really teach?" "Humanity in search of God," "Is it necessary to believe in the Trinity?" and others.

 

In the opinion of the attorney of the Department for Religious Affairs of Astana, Almazbek Mambetov, in these publications "there are signs of the creation of religious conflict representing propaganda of the incitement of religious hostility or strife along with propaganda of the exclusivity and superiority of citizens on the basis of indications of their attitude toward the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses."

 

The search in January was conducted in the context of the investigation of a criminal case on a charge of inciting religious strife against 61-year-old Teimur Akhmedov, a supporter of this religious movement. In May of this year, Akhmedov was sentenced to five years in prison. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 October 2017)

 


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