Fears of state reprisals over registration requests are growing.

 KYRGYZSTAN 

Fears of state reprisals over registration requests are growing.

August 9, 2023

Many Jehovah's Witness communities have been repeatedly denied state registration, contrary to two decisions of the UN Human Rights Committee.

State officials have erroneously claimed that the opinions of the Human Rights Committee "are for their consideration, but not for their implementation." Such denials have "a chilling effect," Jehovah's Witnesses note.

Religious communities still struggle to obtain state registration or fear state reprisals if they seek registration. Contrary to international human rights law, the regime's laws state that religious communities are illegal and cannot operate unless they have state permission to exist.

From 2010 onwards, Jehovah's Witness communities have been repeatedly denied state registration. This has led to two decisions by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee, in 2019 and in 2021, that Kyrgyzstan violated the rights of Jehovah's Witnesses by arbitrarily denying state registration to their communities in the Naryn, Osh and Jalal-Abad regions. However, as of August 1, 2023, the State Commission on Religious Affairs (SCRA) has ignored the decisions of the Human Rights Committee of 2019 and 2021. The most recent refusals of SCRA registration applications by Jehovah's Witness communities in Jalal-Abad, Naryn, Osh and Batken regions were on March 16, 2022. In all four regions, state officials refused on August 2, 3 and 4, 2023 to explain to Forum 18 why they rejected the registration applications (see below).

Jehovah's Witnesses challenged the refusals at the Bishkek Municipal Court on August 1, 2022. During the hearing, the SCRA claimed, erroneously, that the opinions of the UN Human Rights Committee "are for consideration but not for implementation," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 on August 1, 2023. The Bishkek Municipal Court accepted the SCRA's excuses and refused to order the registration refusals to be reconsidered. Both the SCRA and the judicial officials have refused to explain to Forum 18 why the SCRA rejected the registration requests again, ignored the repeated decisions of the Human Rights Committee and why the SCRA claimed that the legally binding obligations of Kyrgyzstan's international human rights laws are not legally binding (see below).

Unregistered religious communities in particular are "in danger of being punished for their religious activity at any given time," Jehovah's Witnesses observed. State registration denials make Jehovah's Witness communities illegal and have "a chilling effect," leaving them "vulnerable" to police harassment," and "landlords are unwilling to rent properties where they could hold peaceful religious gatherings," Jehovah's Witnesses said (see below).

On December 2, 2021, a Bishkek court rejected a demand by the Prosecutor General's Office to ban the books and videos of Jehovah's Witnesses as "extremists". The lawsuit was filed on the initiative of the NSC secret police after they opened a criminal case against Jehovah's Witnesses, who suspect that this was aimed at banning Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the country. However, despite the criminal case being rejected in December 2021, as of August 1, 2023, Jehovah's Witnesses had not yet been formally informed that the NSC secret police had closed the case. "We fear that it is still lurking somewhere and could be reactivated at any time," they told Forum 18. The NSC secret police did not explain to Forum 18 why Jehovah's Witnesses have not been formally informed that the NSC has closed the case (see below).

UN Human Rights Committee ignored, repeated denials of state registration

From 2010 onwards, Jehovah's Witness communities have been repeatedly denied state registration. This has led to two decisions by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee, in 2019 and in 2021, that Kyrgyzstan violated the rights of Jehovah's Witnesses by arbitrarily denying state registration to their communities in the Naryn, Osh and Jalal-Abad regions.

The Human Rights Committee concluded that there were no "reasonable and objective grounds" leading to discrimination "on the basis of their religious beliefs." Kyrgyzstan should review the denials, provide "adequate compensation", "take all necessary measures to prevent similar violations from occurring" and inform the Human Rights Committee what it has done to implement the decisiones.La The State Commission for Religious Affairs (SCRA) has ignored the decisions of the Human Rights Committee of 2019 and 2021. He has also repeatedly refused to explain to Forum 18 why he has done this.

Kyrgyzstan ratified both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its Optional Protocol (OP1) (under which individual complaints such as those of Jehovah's Witnesses are submitted) on 7 October 1994. By doing so voluntarily, Kyrgyzstan assumed both the binding obligations of international human rights law of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the obligation to correct any violations of its obligations, as well as violations detected by the UN Human Rights Committee.

The most recent SCRA denials of registration applications of Jehovah's Witness communities in Jalal-Abad, Naryn, Osh and Batken regions were on March 16, 2022. In these four regions, state officials refused on August 2, 3 and 4 to explain to Forum 18 why the registration applications were rejected.

Are the legally binding obligations of international human rights law not legally binding?

Jehovah's Witnesses challenged the refusals at the Bishkek Municipal Court on August 1, 2022. During the hearing, the SCRA claimed, erroneously, that the opinions of the UN Human Rights Committee "are for consideration but not for implementation," Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 on August 1, 2023. The Bishkek Municipal Court accepted the SCRA's excuses and refused to order the registration refusals to be reconsidered.

The deputy director of the SCRA, Kanatbek Midin, refused to explain on July 26 why the SCRA rejected the registration requests again, ignored the repeated decisions of the Human Rights Committee and why the SCRA claimed that Kyrgyzstan's legally binding obligations under international human rights law are not. "We will definitely answer all your questions," he said. Forum 18 sent an email to Midin on July 28, but the SCRA had not answered the questions by the end of the working day on August 9.

Judge Nurbek Esenaliyev, the chairman of the Bishkek Municipal Court, told Forum 18 on August 4 that "I am not familiar with the decision," and asked Forum 18 to call back on August 7. When Forum 18 called him back, he refused to explain why the Court agreed with the SCRA that Kyrgyzstan's legally binding obligations under international human rights law are not legally binding.

"Jehovah's Witnesses have challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, so we will not make any comment," Judge Esenaliyev said then.

Nursultan Amirakulov of the Supreme Court Chancellery also refused to explain to Forum 18 how Kyrgyzstan's legally binding obligations under international human rights law are not. After Forum 18 explained the details of the case, he stated that “we have many complaints from Jehovah's Witnesses with us, which one exactly are you talking about." When Forum 18 explained the case again, he refused to talk further and added "please send us a letter."

When Forum 18 asked again why Kyrgyzstan's legally binding obligations under international human rights law are not, Amirakulov repeated his previous answer.

Unregistered religious communities in particular are "in danger of being punished for their religious activity at any given time," Jehovah's Witnesses observed at Forum 18. They noted, however, that their local communities had not experienced any "specific serious incidents" in the year since August 2022. State registration denials make Jehovah's Witness communities illegal and have "a chilling effect," leaving them "vulnerable to police harassment" and "landlords unwilling to rent properties where they could hold peaceful religious gatherings," the Jehovah's Witnesses said. .

The Guidelines of the OSCE/Council of Europe Venice Commission on the legal personality of religious or belief communities also state that, according to international law, registration "should not make obtaining legal personality conditional on a religious or belief community having an excessive minimum number of members".

Is the criminal case against Jehovah's Witnesses still open?

On December 2, 2021, a Bishkek court rejected a lawsuit by the Attorney General's Office to ban Jehovah's Witnesses' books and videos as "extremist", saying it had been filed with improper procedure.  The 16-page lawsuit from the Attorney General's Office – seen by Forum 18 – was filed without informing Jehovah's Witnesses.  The suite quotes verbatim a claim by the head of the NSC secret police, Kamchybek Tashiyev, that the teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses "is contradictory and geared towards people who do not know the fundamentals of religion and the Bible," and that it is based on "the personal views of the organization's founders who misinterpret the Bible."

 The official from the Attorney General's Office who took the case to court said that he will not appeal against the court's rejection of the appeal.  "The crackdown is postponed for now," said Syinat Sultanalieva of Human Rights Watch.  The NSC secret police, which backed the attempted ban, is also pushing to ban Jehovah's Witnesses.  The attorney general's official said he is not aware of any lawsuit being prepared.

 The case began when the NSC secret police opened a criminal case in December 2019 against so far unspecified representatives of the national center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Bishkek on charges of incitement to hatred.  The secret police raided the center in March 2021, seizing documents and electronic devices.  In July 2021, the head of the NSC secret police, Tashiyev, wrote to the attorney general asking that not only the literature of Jehovah's Witnesses, but also the community as a whole, be banned.  He claimed, without giving any evidence for his allegations, that Jehovah's Witnesses had been charged with a wide range of extremely serious crimes including "child kidnapping, murder, incitement to murder and suicide, desertion, fraud, theft, racism , extortion, bodily harm".  to damage .."

 "We believe that the Attorney General's Office initiated the civil case to declare some publications 'extremist' mainly to strengthen the criminal investigation and pave the way for an eventual claim to liquidate the national center and ban the peaceful worship of Jehovah's Witnesses in Kyrgyzstan."  Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 in November 2021.

 Despite the fact that the criminal case was dismissed in December 2021, as of August 1, 2023, Jehovah's Witnesses had still not been formally informed that the NSC secret police had closed the case.  "We fear that it is still lurking somewhere and could reactivate at any time," they told Forum 18.

 An undercover NSCo officer in the Investigations Division, who declined to give his name, did not explain to Forum 18 on August 1 why Jehovah's Witnesses have not been formally informed that the NSC has closed the case.  The NSC officer asked Forum 18 to call him back in 20 minutes, but subsequent calls went unanswered.

 In December 2022, the UN Human Rights Committee's Concluding Observations on Kyrgyzstan (CCPR/C/KGZ/CO/3) stated, inter alia, that: "the Committee is concerned about the cumbersome existing registration requirements for the registration of religious organizations representing smaller religious minorities in Kyrgyzstan, such as Jehovah's Witnesses.

 The Human Rights Committee stated that Kyrgyzstan should, among other things:

 "Expedite the passage of legislative amendments to the Freedom of Religion and Religious Organizations Act and ensure that all limitations that are inconsistent with article 18 ["Freedom of thought, conscience and religion"] of the Covenant [the International Covenant] are removed of Civil and Political Rights], provided that for a transparent and fair registration process for religious organizations and for the decriminalization of any religious activity by unregistered religious organizations;"

 Pictured: Government offices in Bishkek, containing the State Commission for Religious Affairs, November 2015.

 https://www.forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2850