Kazakhstan has been approved to chair the Organization for Security and Cooperation (OSCE) in Europe, the main democracy watchdog in Europe. This is highly controversial, since Kazakhstan's democratic record is horrendous. It is equivalent to appointing a fox to guard the chickens.
Transparency International released its annual "Corruption Index," and Kazakhstan showed a slight improvement from the 30th most corrupt country (out of 180) to the 35th most corrupt. It was tied in the report with East Timor. Not exactly the exemplar that should be heading the OSCE.
Kazakhstan has a very troubling history of religious repression. In July the government began a campaign to eradicate the congregations of the Jehovah Witnesses from their territory. I know many readers will not share sympathy for this religious cult, but the issue is religious freedom.
Nine congregations were raided by officers from the Prosecutor's Offices, secret police, the Anti-Terrorist Police, the state police, the local administrative police, the Justice Department and the Sanitary Epidemiology Service. Talk about an overkill!
What were these dangerous criminals up to? They were holding religious studies in homes not registered to conduct such meetings. As a result, fines were levied against individuals (equivalent to 50 months of salary), and the registrations of two of the three registered congregations were revoked.
"It is absolute nonsense to demand religious organizations to hold meetings only in one building where they are registered," said Yevgeny Zhovtis, the head of the Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law.
Earlier two Baptist pastors received heavy fines for meetings held in private homes. Another pastor, Dmitry Jantsen, was threatened with jail and the closure of his church if home gatherings continued. The Justice Department told Jantsen "not to try to appeal to international organizations such as the OSCE, because they will not be of any help to you."
Well, of course not—now that the Kazakhstan government will be running the OSCE.
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