A court in northern Kazakhstan has ordered Christian literature including Bibles to be destroyed, according to Oslo-based religious freedom watchdog Forum 18. One official has said the Bibles are likely to be burned. The order to destroy religious books may be a first for Kazakhstan, said Forum 18. Last April, a legal order to destroy religious works, including a Bible, was annulled.
The latest order concerns 121 Bibles and other religious books and leaflets belonging to Vyacheslav Cherkasov, a Baptist from the town of Shchuchinsk. He recieved a fine of around $575 after being arrested for distributing religious literature.
In his defense, Cherkasov cited his rights under the constitution, but the court ruled that only two bookshops in Shchuchinsk are licensed to distribute religious literature. Last year local officials throughout Kazakhstan issued decrees authorizing only named, licensed bookshops to sell religious literature, Forum 18 said.
Cherkasov has filed an appeal, but if it fails the Bibles are likely to be “burnt,” Justice Ministry official Kulzhiyan Nurbayeva said.
Human rights campaigner Yevgeniy Zhovtis said, “[T]his is terrible, terrible. We know that religious literature has frequently been confiscated since the new Religion Law came into force in 2011. But I've never heard that religious literature is being destroyed, unless it is extremist.”
In October 2012 a deadline for religious groups to re-register under stringent new requirements expired. Approximately one-third of 4,551 religious organizations did not receive re-registration, leaving 3,088 operating. In the process, the number of faiths that Kazakhstan recognizes was slashed from 46 to 17. While a majority of Kazakhs are Muslims, there are large Christian populations.