MOSCOW — Draconian new legislation governing religious activity in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan has been ruled unconstitutional, much to the relief of leaders of religious minorities in the vast Central Asian country.
Protestant pastors from across Kazakhstan gathered April 13, in Almaty, the country’s largest city, to celebrate the legislation’s defeat by the country’s Constitutional Council.
The Constitutional Council ruled April 3 that the proposed law gave too much power to the government-aligned Spiritual Directorate of the Muslims of Kazakhstan, which would have been in a position to veto the registration of new Muslim communities and the construction of mosques.
Like officials in other former Soviet republics — including Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Russia — Kazak bureaucrats are keen to control and squash faiths that are considered nontraditional.
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