Source: www.forum18.org
Date: June 13, 2024
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18
On 6 June Parliament, the Jogorku Kenesh, rejected an amendment to the
Religion Law that would have imposed tighter financial reporting by
registered religious organisations. Despite this, a separate amendment to
achieve the same aim is now being prepared. "The Budget and Constitutional
Issues Committee will prepare the draft," the Assistant to Deputy Ulan
Primov – who is promoting such tighter controls - told Forum 18.
The rejected amendment would have required registered religious
organisations to submit reports to the tax authorities by 1 April each year
"about the sources of funds, the directions of their expenditure, as well
as information about property they have acquired, use or have disposed of".
Amendments also covered political parties, cooperatives and trade unions
(see below).
Members of two religious communities complained to Forum 18 that they have
not been informed or consulted about these proposed new financial reporting
requirements (see below).
Forum 18 asked Deputy Primov:
- Why he believes such a draft Law on financial control of religious
communities is needed;
v
- Whether such a new Law would not create an open door for the authorities'
arbitrary punishment of religious communities, particularly if they receive
financial assistance from abroad;
- Whether such a new Law would not potentially jeopardise the safety of
members of non-Muslim communities if their contact details are published;
- Whether the authorities and the Jogorku Kenesh will allow members of
religious communities actively to participate in discussion of the draft
Law.
Forum 18 has received no response (see below).
Kanatbek Midin uuly, Press Secretary of the State Commission for Religious
Affairs in Bishkek, told Forum 18 he is not aware of any such proposals
since the Jorgorku Kenesh rejected the amendments on 6 June. Asked whether
this means there will be no new Law in the near future to increase
religious communities' financial reporting requirements, he said: "I cannot
guarantee that" (see below).
"Religious organisations are already under the strict control of the State
Commission for Religious Affairs, law-enforcement agencies such as the
Interior Ministry, National Security Committee (NSC) secret police, and the
Justice Ministry," a human rights defender who asked not to be identified
told Forum 18. "If any new Law is adopted, they will also be subjected to
the control of the Finance Ministry" (see below).
Gulshayir Abdirasulova of the human rights organisation Kylym Shamy warned
religious communities to watch out for new financial reporting
requirements. "Financial control measures for non-commercial organisations
in general were incorporated into the Law in 2022," she told Forum 18. "Now
the authorities want to adopt such measures for religious organisations"
(see below).
Abdirasulova pointed out that information on the financial sources of
non-commercial organisations, as well as their individual members' names
and addresses, is already published on the website of the tax authority.
She warned that if religious organisations have to do likewise, members -
particularly of non-Muslim religious communities – would be at risk "for
them to be persecuted by radically-minded individuals". The problem of
unpunished violent attacks against non-Muslims in regions outside Bishkek
is long-standing (see below).
Although the controversial Foreign Agents Law signed into law in April does
not ostensibly apply to religious organisations, members of some religious
communities expressed their fears. "The government can twist any law to use
against us arbitrarily," one told Forum 18 (see below).
"I would not be surprised if the authorities in the near future also
propose measures to control the international ties of religious
communities, since such measures were adopted for non-commercial
organisations in general in April," Abdirasulova told Forum 18 (see below).
Midin uuly of the State Commission for Religious Affairs told Forum 18 that
work is continuing on a draft new Religion Law. When the text was published
in November 2023, human rights defenders and religious communities
criticised the many violations of international human rights law. Four
United Nations Special Rapporteurs wrote to the government with concerns
about the draft. No reply from the government has been published (see
below).
On 13 May, Osh Regional Court halved on appeal the jail terms handed to
Asadullo Madraimov and Mamirzhan Tashmatov. The two Muslims had been
arrested in October 2023 after protesting against the regime's closure of
their mosque in Kara-Suu. Tashmatov was freed in the court room on 13 May.
Madraimov will remain in prison in Osh until 25 August, his lawyer told
Forum 18 (see below).
A Bishkek Protestant church whose place of worship is under threat of
confiscation is pinning hopes on Ombudsperson Jamilya Jamanbayeva, who has
promised to help them (see below).
Parliament rejects tighter financial reporting - for now
The Jogorku Kenesh (Parliament) on 6 June considered in the first reading
an amendment to the 2008 Religion Law to impose tighter financial reporting
by registered religious organisations. The proposal came in a draft Law on
Amendments to the Law on Financial Reporting by Certain Non-Commercial
Organisations. The Amendments also covered political parties, cooperatives
and trade unions.
The amendment would have required registered religious organisations to
submit reports to the tax authorities by 1 April each year "about the
sources of funds, the directions of their expenditure, as well as
information about property they have acquired, use or have disposed of".
Akylbek Japarov, Chair of the Cabinet of Ministers, submitted the proposal
to Parliament on 3 March.
Members of several religious communities, which did not want Forum 18 to
identify them for fear of state reprisals, expressed concern about the
proposed new Law. "We already give financial reports to the government,
which are openly published on the internet," one community member told
Forum 18. "What any new Law will bring we need to see. We were not asked
for our opinion on the draft Law recently discussed in Parliament."
"The authorities did not seek our opinion in the past when they adopted the
Religion Law or other Laws concerning religious organisations," a leader of
another community lamented to Forum 18. "Nor did they ask us about this
proposed new Law. We always hear the news of these Laws from third sources
like you."
However, on 6 June the Jogorku Kenesh rejected the draft Law on Amendments
to the Law on Financial Reporting by Certain Non-Commercial Organisations,
the Jogorku Kenesh website noted the same day.
Deputy Ulan Primov, a member of the Ata Jurt Kyrgyzstan (Fatherland
Kyrgyzstan) faction who sits on the Jogorku Kenesh International Relations,
Defence, Security and Migration Committee, spoke in the debate to support
tighter financial reporting requirements for registered religious
organisations.
Greater financial controls expected?
Jazgul Nazirbayeva, Deputy Ulan Primov's Assistant, said that a separate
draft Law to increase financial controls on registered religious
organisations is being prepared. "It is not the Ata Jurt faction's proposal
but the personal proposal of Deputy Primov," she told Forum 18 from Bishkek
on 11 June. "The [Jogorku Kenesh] Budget and Constitutional Issues
Committee will prepare the draft."
Nazirbayeva could not answer Forum 18's questions on the proposed new Law
or put it through to Primov. She claimed that he is on a business trip
abroad. She asked Forum 18 to send its questions in writing.
Forum 18 asked Deputy Primov on 11 June in writing:
- Why he believes such a draft Law on financial control of religious
communities is needed;
- Whether such a new Law would not create an open door for the authorities'
arbitrary punishment of religious communities, particularly if they receive
financial assistance from abroad;
- Whether such a new Law would not potentially jeopardise the safety of
members of non-Muslim communities if their contact details are published;
- Whether the authorities and the Jogorku Kenesh will allow members of
religious communities actively to participate in discussion of the draft
Law.
Forum 18 had received no response by the end of the working day in Bishkek
of 13 June.
Kanatbek Midin uuly, Press Secretary of the State Commission for Religious
Affairs in Bishkek, adamantly denied that a new proposal was made to
prepare a separate draft Law to increase religious communities' financial
reporting requirements. "I participated in that session of the Parliament,
and no one made such a new proposal," he told Forum 18 on 11 June.
Told that a parliamentary official has confirmed to Forum 18 that a
separate new Law is being drafted, Midin uuly responded: "I do not know, I
do not remember that." Asked whether this means there will be no new Law in
the near future to increase religious communities' financial reporting
requirements, he said: "I cannot guarantee that."
Asked why religious communities are not made aware of new Laws concerning
them and have not been invited to participate in the discussions of a
potential new Law on religious communities' financial reporting
requirements, Midin uuly responded: "Well, the draft proposed in March was
rejected by Parliament at the first reading anyway, and if it went through
to the second reading we would at that stage have asked religious
communities for their opinions."
Religious communities urged to participate in discussion of proposed Law
Gulshayir Abdirasulova of the Bishkek-based human rights organisation Kylym
Shamy warned religious communities to watch out for new financial reporting
requirements. "Financial control measures for non-commercial organisations
in general were incorporated into the Law in 2022," she told Forum 18. "Now
the authorities want to adopt such measures for religious organisations."
(A 22 March 2022 Cabinet of Ministers Decree implementing provisions of the
Non-Commercial Organisations Law specified detailed information such
organisations must file on themselves and their donors.)
"I strongly urge religious communities to pay attention to any new draft
Law on financial reporting," Abdirasulova added, "and actively participate
in the discussions and submit proposals to the authorities to reduce the
possible future negative effects of it on their activity."
Abdirasulova pointed out that information on the financial sources of
non-commercial organisations, as well as their individual members' names
and addresses, is already published on the website of the tax authority.
"Everyone has access to this information without needing to register on the
website," Abdirasulova pointed out. "It is therefore important for each
religious community to take part in the discussions of any proposed new
draft Law and help develop an acceptable form for the authorities to
collect and retain such information."
Abdirasulova pointed out that after the adoption of requirements on
financial reporting of non-commercial organisations in 2022 and their
financial information and addresses were openly published, some of their
employees were subjected to public ostracism and blackmail in the
government-sponsored news and social media. "The media portrayed them as
working for the United States and Western European grants and promoting
Western values, including LGBTQ."
"If in future names and addresses of individual religious community members
- particularly of non-Muslim religious communities - are published in an
open public domain, it will also make it possible for them to be persecuted
by radically-minded individuals," Abdirasulova warned.
The problem of unpunished violent attacks against non-Muslims in regions
outside Bishkek is long-standing. Mobs have attacked individuals and places
of worship (https://www.forum18.org/archi
attacks have taken place with the complicity of the authorities, and
include refusals to allow the family and friends of the dead to conduct
funeral ceremonies in the way the dead would wish. Some non-Muslims have
been forced to convert to Islam to bury their dead.
"Authorities' intention is total control of civil society and religious
communities, including their finances"
Another human rights defender, who asked not to be identified for fear of
state reprisals, described proposals to increase religious communities'
reporting requirements as "very bad".
"In a few years time, we will perhaps have no civil society and no
independent religious communities left in Kyrgyzstan," the human rights
defender complained to Forum 18 on 6 June. "Everything will follow the
Russian scenario."
Elaborating on a possible new Law's effects on religious communities and
their members, the human rights defender told Forum 18: "Religious
organisations are already under the strict control of the State Commission
for Religious Affairs, law-enforcement agencies such as the Interior
Ministry, National Security Committee (NSC) secret police, and the Justice
Ministry. If any new Law is adopted, they will also be subjected to the
control of the Finance Ministry."
"Religious communities, especially those which have international ties and
receive financial aid from abroad, will be particularly targeted, I am
afraid," the human rights defender noted.
Future greater controls on religious communities' international ties?
On 2 April, President Sadyr Japarov signed into law controversial
amendments to the Non-Commercial Organisations Law
(https://www.hrw.org/news/2024
The amendments were widely dubbed the Foreign Agents Law and were similar
to legal provisions adopted in Russia in 2012.
The new amendments require non-commercial organisations that receive
foreign funding and engage in what it defines as political activities to
register as "foreign representatives". Such organisations must also submit
to costly financial reporting requirements and extensive state oversight.
Gulshayir Abdirasulova of human rights organisation Kylym Shamy told Forum
18 that the Foreign Agents Law does not specifically apply to religious
organisations.
Elaborating on the 2022 financial reporting requirements for non-commercial
organisations as well as the new proposals for religious communities, the
human rights defender who did not want to be identified complained that
"Without a doubt, members of civil society and religious communities can be
critical of the state authorities' activity. The authoritarian rulers do
not like such members of society, thanks to whom their formula of 'carrot
and stick' is failing."
The human rights defender added: "It has become very difficult for the
authoritarian rulers of Kyrgyzstan to manipulate public opinion in the age
of information technologies. Therefore, the authorities' intention is the
total control of civil society and religious communities, including their
finances."
Although the Foreign Agents Law does not ostensibly apply to religious
organisations, members of some religious communities expressed their fears
to Forum 18. "The government can twist any law to use against us
arbitrarily," one told Forum 18. "They can tell us that we are also a
non-commercial organisation and that this Law applies to us as well."
Controlling religious communities' international ties?
Gulshayir Abdirasulova of human rights organisation Kylym Shamy believes
the government's controls on religious communities will go further than the
current plans to tighten controls over their finances. She points to the
adoption of the Foreign Agents Law in April.
"I would not be surprised if the authorities in the near future also
propose measures to control the international ties of religious
communities, since such measures were adopted for non-commercial
organisations in general in April," Abdirasulova told Forum 18.
When will proposed new Religion Law return?
On 10 November 2023, the government's draft legislation website posted the
texts of two proposed new laws
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
continued to restrict freedom of religion or belief. Both drafts were
prepared by the State Commission for Religious Affairs.
A proposed new Religion Law would have replaced the 2008 Religion Law and
subsequent amendments. An associated proposed new Amending Law in the Area
of Religion would have introduced amendments to the 2021 Violations Code,
as well as the laws on political parties, on elections to and deputies of
local keneshes (administrations), and on parliamentary deputies.
The proposed new Religion Law
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
provisions, have: continued to require all religious communities to gain
state registration before they are allowed to exist or exercise freedom of
religion or belief; continued to make illegal and punishable any exercise
of freedom of religion or belief by religious communities without state
registration; imposed compulsory re-registration of religious communities
every five years; imposed multiple burdensome registration requirements,
including high thresholds for the numbers of founders required for a
religious community.
A number of individuals submitted comments on the draft legislation
website. Gulshayir Abdirasulova of human rights organisation Kylym Shamy
submitted a 10-page analysis of the proposed new Law via the draft
legislation website on 9 December 2023. She called for numerous provisions
which violate international human rights commitments to be deleted.
A representative of the Baha'i community criticised the high proposed
number of adult citizens needed to register a religious community: 100 for
a local, 500 for a regional and 3,000 for a national community. "From the
wording it follows that 99 believers at the local level do not have the
right to register their organisation and practice their religion," the
representative wrote. They suggested a local community should need 10
founders.
On 18 December 2023, four United Nations Special Rapporteurs – including
Nazila Ghanea, Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief –
wrote to the authorities (KGZ 6/2023
(https://spcommreports.ohchr.o
expressing concern about provisions in the draft new Religion Law. They
asked the authorities to explain how the contentions provisions "are
compatible with international human rights standards regarding the right to
freedom of religion or belief, and the rights to freedom of peaceful
assembly and freedom of association".
The Special Rapporteurs asked the government to inform them of measures it
had taken or was planning to take to ensure the proposed Law's compliance
with the country's obligations under international human rights law. As of
13 June 2024, the United Nations website does not list any response from
the Kyrgyz government to their letter.
Kanatbek Midin uuly, Press Secretary of the State Commission for Religious
Affairs, told Forum 18 that the State Commission in December 2023 withdrew
the proposed new Religion Law from the draft legislation website. "It did
not even reach the Parliament," he told Forum 18 on 12 June 2024.
Abdirasulova welcomed the State Commission decision in December 2023 to
withdraw the proposed Law "because we submitted very many negative
observations", she told Forum 18 on 12 June 2024.
However, Midin uuly indicated that officials still intend to draw up a new
version of the Religion Law. "We are at the moment working on a new draft
taking into account the comments we received from the public," he told
Forum 18.
A member of one religious community told Forum 18 in mid-May 2024 that it
remains concerned about the proposed new Religion Law. "It was discussed in
November 2023 but, after the protest of many religious organisations
(including our own), it was submitted for correction."
Jailed for protesting against closure of their mosque
Police in Kara-Suu in Osh Region arrested Asadullo Madraimov, Mamirzhan
Tashmatov and another man on 18 October 2023 for protesting against the
regime's closure of their mosque
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Al-Sarakhsi Mosque, and placed them in detention. The third was fined and
freed in January 2024.
On 26 February, Judge Syrgak Zhumadylov of Kara-Suu District Court jailed
prisoners of conscience Madraimov and Tashmatov
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
two years respectively.
The Court convicted the men under Criminal Code Article 330, Part 1
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
racial, ethnic, national, religious or inter-regional enmity (discord), as
well as propaganda of the exclusivity, superiority or inferiority of
citizens on the basis of their attitude to religion, nationality or race,
committed publicly or with the use of the mass media as well as the
internet"),
The Court dropped the Prosecutor's charges under Criminal Code Article 278,
Part 3 ("Calling for active disobedience of the lawful demands of state
officials and for riots").
Madraimov and Tashmatov appealed against their conviction and jail terms
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Osh court upheld convictions, but reduced jail terms
On 13 May, Osh Regional Court heard Asadullo Madraimov and Mamirzhan
Tashmatov's appeal against their convictions and jail terms. Appeal Board
Judges Mirlan Borombayev, who is also Chair of the Court, and Azizbek
Dosmambetov reduced the men's prison terms by half, their lawyer Khusanbai
Saliyev told Forum 18 on 10 June.
Court Chair Borombayev's phones were not answered on 11 June. Judge
Dosmambetov refused to talk to Forum 18 about the case on 11 June. "We will
not discuss with you our decisions," he told Forum 18 and declined to talk
further.
"Because every day in pre-trial detention prison is counted as two days of
the actual sentence, Tashmatov was freed in the court room on 13 May, since
he had served in full the sentence given to him," Saliyev explained.
"Madraimov will be in prison until 25 August taking into account the
remainder of his sentence after it was reduced."
Kanatbek Midin uuly, Press Secretary of the State Commission for Religious
Affairs, declined to discuss the two men's case with Forum 18.
It is not clear whether the authorities will transfer Madraimov to a prison
because of the shortness of the remainder of the prison term, Saliyev
noted. "Madraimov all this time has been in the same detention prison. The
chances are that he will remain in the same place."
Madraimov is being held in Investigation Prison No. 5 (Prison No. 25) in
Osh. The address is:
Osh oblusu
Osh shaari
Bayalinov kochosu 20
Prison No. 25
Too afraid to appeal further now?
Asadullo Madraimov and Mamirzhan Tashmatov's lawyer, Khusanbai Saliyev,
insists that the two men are innocent. "They need to be cleared from their
criminal record," he told Forum 18.
"Relatives have asked me not to make a cassation appeal against the court
decisions since the Prosecutor's Office has the right to challenge the
Court's reduction of the sentence," Saliyev told Forum 18. "Relatives are
afraid that if I make the appeal now the Prosecutor can act and punish them
for this."
However, Saliyev told Forum 18 he will, with the agreement of Madraimov and
his relatives, make the appeal after Madraimov has completed his jail term
and is out of prison.
Will Ombudsperson help threatened Bishkek church?
Forum 18 is aware that the authorities want to confiscate the building of a
Protestant Church in Bishkek. Church members did not wish to discuss the
issue at present since the Ombudsperson Jamilya Jamanbayeva has promised to
help them. (END)
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Kyrgyzstan
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
For more background, see Forum 18's Kyrgyzstan religious freedom survey
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Forum 18's compilation of for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
freedom of religion or belief commitments
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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