Baptists fined for ‘religious activity’ in Kazakhstan

ASTANA, Kazakhstan — Two Baptists in Kazakhstan have been given large fines for peaceful religious activity. Pyotr Panafidin and Ivan Friesen were each fined 116,800 tenge (970 U.S. dollars) in separate cases. Another Baptist, Dmitry Jantsen, was warned by officials that his congregation and several others would be closed and that he would be jailed. One official, Serik Tlekbaev of the Justice Department, told Jantsen "not to try to appeal to international organizations such as the United Nations or the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) because they will not be of any help to you," Jantsen said. Tlekbaev also stated that "Kazakhstan will be chairman-in-office of the OSCE in 2010, and it will then be of no use to you to talk to the OSCE." Tlekbaev has denied that he made these statements.