Authorities in Kazakhstan have fined a Baptist pastor for leading a congregation without state registration and deported another as part of an onging campaign to stamp out religious communities not under the government's thumb.
The Kazakh government fined Baptist pastor Pavel Leonov two months' average salary for leading a religious community without state registration, according to Forum 18, a Norway-based religious freedom organization. Leonov refused to pay the fine, citing financial hardship and because he had done nothing wrong.
Leonov is one of more than 100 people known to have been fined in 2013 for religious "offenses," Forum 18 noted. After jailing Leonov for one day, police in Ayagoz, a city of 40,000 in eastern Kazakhstan, opened a criminal case against him on Oct. 28. He now faces up to a year in prison. Keep reading
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