Village in Shu district in southern Champil state on the morning of March 3. Police arrived before the start of Sunday service at the Baptist church.
Milo’s Council of Churches Baptist congregation meets every Sunday in a village home. It is not seeking state registration.
Operations officer Umbet, inspector
Bekkali Dzhaksylykov and local inspector O. Sadyrbayev arrived at the church room. “They began filming the proceedings and the hall, going along the rows, photographing the faces of all those Telemarketing Lead Generation Companies participating in the worship service,” the subsequent court ruling noted. “They ignored requests to stop filming and explain their actions.”
Officer Umbert claimed that the police were verifying “an anonymous call they received asking them to verify who was meeting at this address and what kind of meeting it was.” He questioned those present, including whether they were willing to meet, and asked them to provide written statements.
Milo wrote a statement explaining that church members met voluntarily.
On March 4, the police summoned Mirau and two other church members. Local inspector Sadyrbayev drew up a criminal record against the three.
Miro was summarily punished under Article 489, Part 9 of the Administrative Code. The law imposes a fine of 100 MFIs on “the head of an unregistered, suspended or banned religious group or social organization.” (Under this article, the police have the power to issue summary fines.) Sadirbayev gave him a summary fine of 100 MFIs, 369,200 tenge (about two months’ average salary).
Inspector Dzhaksylykov immediately punished two other church members under
Article 489, Part 10 of the Administrative Code, which imposes fines on 50 MFIs for “participation in unregistered, suspended or banned religious groups or social organizations.” The fine amounted to 184,600 tenge per 50 MFIs (about one month’s average salary) (halved if paid within seven days).
All three reluctantly paid the fine, which would have been reduced by half if paid in time. However, they appealed to the Suzhou DLBDFY District Court against the summary fine. On April 5, Judge Zhibek Tazhibayeva rejected Mirau’s appeal, according to a ruling seen by Forum 18. On May 2, Judge Rashid Dosymkulov of the Zambil District Court rejected his further appeal, according to a ruling seen by Forum 18. The Shu District Court similarly rejected appeals from two other church members, according to the court’s ruling.
On March 5, police also drew up a criminal record against
Mirau under Article 490, Part 3 of the Administrative Code. This law punishes: “conducting missionary activities without state registration (or re-registration), as well as the use by missionaries of religious literature, information materials with religious content or religious objects without a positive assessment analyzed by experts in religious studies, as well as the dissemination of the teachings of religious groups that are not registered in Kazakhstan”. The penalty is a fine of 100 mfi and, if the individual is a foreign citizen, deportation.
Prosecutor A. Seisebayeva referred the case to the Shu District Court. On March 27, Mirau told the court that the church met at his home every Sunday at 10 a.m. “He did not do anything against the law and did not violate it,” the court ruling – seen by Forum 18 – quoted his statement. “He asked for a fair decision.” Judge Tazhibayeva found Mirau guilty and fined him 100 MFIs, 369,200 tenge (about two months’ average salary).
Mirau appealed the March 27 verdict to the Zambil District Court. However, on April 30, Judge Rashid Dosymkulov rejected his appeal, according to the decision seen by Forum 18.