A Baptist in Kazakhstan could face up to three years in prison for refusing to pay a 2013 fine for handing out uncensored religious literature on the street, according to an international news service that specializes in stories involving religious liberty.
Nikolai Novikov, a 34-year-old father of four, told Norway-based Forum 18 that a police investigator wants to imprison him for from one to three years for an act of civil disobedience in March 2013.
Novikov is a member of the Council of Churches Baptists. The group has a policy of refusing to pay the numerous administrative fines placed on them, claiming Kazakhstan’s constitution affords them freedom of religion.
Kazakhstan imposes strict state censorship on all religious materials, including restrictions on who may sell or distribute material and where it can occur. Novikov has been fined three times in two years, jailed for five days, placed on Kazakhstan’s exit ban list, and has had a restraining order placed on his car.
“I didn’t pay because I don’t consider myself guilty,” Novikov told Forum 18 in January. “These fines were illegal.”
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SOURCE: Baptist News Global
Bob Allen
