Astana, Kazakhstan — If adopted in its current form, Kazakhstan’s proposed new Criminal Code would allow those who lead unregistered religious communities to be imprisoned for up to three months, and those who share their faith for up to four months.
The draft text — seen by Forum 18 News Service — is expected to be approved by the government in May and presented to parliament in July, Ruslan Toktagulov of the General Prosecutor’s Office, who is coordinating preparation of the draft, told Forum 18 from Astana.
A new Code of Administrative Offences is expected to reach parliament in the fall, but no draft has been published. Fifteen individuals are known to Forum 18 to have been found guilty under the Code of Administrative Offences in 2013 for exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief. Ten were fined two months’ average wages, four were fined one month’s average wages and the other was warned.
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