ICC Note: According to Forum 18, violations of religious freedom continue to increase in Kazakhstan. Unfair trials and torture of prisoners are just some of the tactics used by the government to restrict religious freedom. Among the groups targeted by the government is the Christian minority of Kazakhstan.

09/11/2018 Kazakhstan (World Watch Monitor) – Kazakhstan tries to make the “exercising of human rights conditional on state permission”, says the Oslo-based news service Forum 18 in a new report.

“[Kazakhstan] systematically violates intertwined fundamental rights – such as the freedoms of religion or belief, of expression and of assembly” when it has international obligations to respect and defend these, the news service said in its Religious Freedom survey of the country, adding that “there is a culture of impunity for such violations [of human rights] among officials.”

Violations included unfair trials and torture of prisoners, wide-ranging “laws” allowing for arbitrary actions by government officials, and making the exercise of religious freedom dependent on state permission – with restrictions on religious activities, and also for children under 18, according to the report.

In 2017 there was an increase in prosecutions and penalties for those exercising their freedom of religion and belief, the report noted.

In 2013 at least 153 sentences were given to 126 individuals, “mainly for meeting for worship or sharing their beliefs without state permission”, with fines then between one and two months’ average wages. In 2017 “at least 283 individuals, religious communities, charities and companies were prosecuted … [with] fines [that] ranged between the equivalent of three weeks to six months’ average wages,” the report said.

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