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Kazakhstan: "They want to close down our church with any excuse"

Kazakhstan continues to try to close places of worship, Forum 18 News Service reports. The latest incident is a court case brought against Grace Protestant Church in Semey, in eastern Kazakhstan.

The Fire Brigade claims that the newly constructed house of worship does not meet fire safety requirements, stating that that there must be a six meter gap between their building and the next building. However, a church member told Forum 18, "there is no building on that land, it is an empty plot.

"Church members and their lawyer insist that all relevant building permits, including those from the Fire Brigade, are in order. But "the court ignored these documents." A church member told Forum 18 that "it looks like they are trying to close down our church with any excuse."

In a separate case, a Soviet-era prisoner of conscience, Yegor Prokopenko, pastor of an unregistered Baptist church, has been fined for a second time in three years for unregistered religious activity. Local prosecutor Tatyana Semynina told Forum 18 that "they can believe as much as they want, but should not organize religious meetings."

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[07/07/2008]

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