KAZAKHSTAN: KNB INTENSIFIES INVESTIGATION OF GRACE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ASTANA 000357 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN M. O'MARA E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/21/2018 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL KIRF KDEM KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: KNB INTENSIFIES INVESTIGATION OF GRACE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH REF: 07 ASTANA 2718 Classified By: AMBASSADOR ORDWAY FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) Summary: On January 25, Committee for National Security (KNB) agents raided yet another Grace Presbyterian Church, this time in Almaty. The raid is the latest step in an ongoing KNB investigation of the denomination, which began with August 2007 raids on two churches and several church-related homes and continued with intensive questioning of CHURCH officials. Although the KNB has not formally detained or charged any CHURCH officials, and the churches continue to operate, CHURCH leaders are increasingly concerned about the broadening scope of the investigation and what it means for the future of the church. The KNB has remained publicly silent on the case, though some press reports have linked the case to the ongoing investigation and prosecution of FORMER presidential son-in-law Rakhat Aliyev. End summary. -------------- KNB RAIDS GRACE CHURCH IN ALMATY -------------- ¶2. (U) On January 25, Committee for National Security (KNB) agents raided yet another Grace Presbyterian Church, this time searching the large, 4500 member Grace CHURCH in Almaty. KNB agents seized documents, financial records, and computers and questioned CHURCH officials. The raid is the latest step in an ongoing KNB investigation of the church, which began with August 24, 2007 raids on the Grace CHURCH headquarters in Karaganda, the Grace CHURCH in Ust Kamenogorsk, and several church-related private homes in Karaganda (reftel). Other law enforcement bodies, including the financial police, have also been involved in the ongoing investigation, intensively questioning CHURCH officials and examining CHURCH records for the denomination since the initial August 24, 2007 raids. Although Grace CHURCH Archbishop Igor Kim, his wife, and other pastors and administrators have been subjected to extensive questioning, they have not been formally detained, and the churches continue to hold worship services. ¶3. (SBU) According to Association of Religious Organizations of Kazakhstan chairman Aleksandr Klyushev and various media reports, this investigation is connected to a treason investigation involving CHURCH officials and Almaty businessman Sergey Tsoy (reftel),but has expanded to include virtually every aspect of the church's operation. Klyushev, who met with Archbishop Kim on January 31 in Karaganda, told us on February 1 that he now believes the investigation is about much more than Tsoy,s ties to the church; he alleged that it is a case of religious persecution by the authorities, as the Grace CHURCH is one of the more active and visible nontraditional religious groups in the country. ¶4. (C) Klyushev maintains that the Grace CHURCH leaders are innocent of any espionage, and still does not know the basis for possible treason charges. In his view, the authorities are nonetheless determined to find wrongdoing by the church. As an example, he said that authorities have zeroed in on charitable donations by a foreign donor that were deposited into the bank account of Archbishop Kim's wife Arina, which she then used for charitable purposes. He said that authorities are preparing criminal charges against Arina Kim for tax evasion. ¶5. (C) Klyushev provided additional information about the August 2007 KNB raids on the CHURCH offices in Karaganda, which he learned during his January 31 meeting with Archbishop Kim. According to Kim, the CHURCH dismissed a high-level staffer a few years ago after suspecting that he was a KNB informant and had conducted a number of illicit activities and actions to undermine the church. (Note: Kim briefly mentioned this case during an April 5, 2007 meeting with Poloff. End note.) This unnamed staffer,s office contained a wall safe, though nobody from the CHURCH had access to it. The CHURCH essentially ignored it after his departure. During the August 2007 KNB raid, the KNB forcibly opened the safe and confiscated a number of sensitive documents, including instructions from the KNB about how to monitor religious groups. Several CHURCH administrators witnessed the opening of the safe, and were sworn to secrecy about the content of the documents. The KNB then accused the church of illegally possessing classified documents. Klyushev also thought it a strange coincidence that the fired church employee/KNB informant died only 15 days after the inspection of the church. According to press reports, the man died of cancer and his family blamed the Grace CHURCH for ASTANA 00000357 002 OF 003 hastening his death. -------------- -- KNB STEPS UP INTEREST IN OTHER CHRISTIAN GROUPS -------------- -- ¶6. (C) Klyushev told us that the KNB also appears to have taken action against other churches. He reported that Pastor Pavel Kuptsov of the Word of Life CHURCH in Karaganda was summoned by the KNB for questioning on January 3, and was interrogated daily until January 25, from 10 a.m. until 4 or 5 p.m. each day, without breaks. (Note: The Word of Life church is a registered Protestant Christian church. End note.) The interrogations were prompted by a complaint filed by the parents of a 19-year-old girl who had attended the church for some time and then ran away from home. The parents accused the CHURCH of kidnapping her. According to Klyushev, the girl had only attended the CHURCH a few times, and CHURCH members were able to find her shortly after Kuptsov,s interrogations began; she and her parents both filed statements with the KNB absolving the CHURCH of any responsibility. Nonetheless, the KNB persisted in interrogating Kuptsov, and questioned him intensely about the church's teachings, its relationship with foreign organizations, its funding from foreign sources, the source of the money the CHURCH used for construction of its building, and other religious groups in Karaganda. Kuptsov was not arrested or charged with a crime, and the CHURCH continues to operate. ¶7. (C) In addition, Klyushev said that the KNB recently stepped up its interest in him. Klyushev, who also pastors a New Life CHURCH in Astana, said that in recent weeks two of his close associates were separately approached by officers from the KNB Department for Combat Against Extremism and Terrorism and pressured to work as informants and provide information about Klyushev and his activities. He said that both of his associates refused, and told Klyushev about the meetings despite being warned not to. Klyushev speculated that the KNB does not really need informants, given their technical abilities to intercept conversations and perform surveillance; instead, he believes the KNB is recruiting people to eventually serve as witnesses in some future court action. -------------- MEDIA JOINS THE FRAY -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Several newspapers have reported on the Grace CHURCH investigation since its inception, generally portraying the church very negatively and playing up the espionage/treason angle as much as possible. On January 29, for example, pro-government newspaper Liter published an article entitled "Deceptive Grace," with the subheading "Foreign Spies Operated under the Cover of a Church." The article reported that the KNB has found substantial evidence that the CHURCH is engaged in intelligence activities, and repeated the allegation that illegal drugs and materials inciting inter-faith discord were found during the Karaganda raid. The article also repeated the link to Tsoy, the Almaty businessman. -------------- INVESTIGATION LINKED TO RAKHAT ALIYEV? -------------- ¶9. (SBU) A few news reports in recent months have linked the Grace CHURCH case to the Rakhat Aliyev investigation. On December 3, 2007, Ferghana.ru published an article by Rinat Saydullin reporting that, in addition to the raids on the Grace Churches on August 24, 2007, the KNB also raided the local offices of the Christian Association for Prison Aftercare in Ust-Kamenogorsk. The Association is a religious prison ministry with ties to many churches, including the Grace Church. KNB officers reportedly seized a computer and other documents from the head of the local Association and told him that he was a witness in a treason case. They then questioned him extensively about the national head of the Association, businessman Sergey Manevich, and Manevich,s ties to Rakhat Aliyev. (Note: Manevich is frequently identified in the press as a close associate of Aliyev. On December 25, 2007, the Vremya newspaper reported that Manevich was being investigated along with Aliyev and Alnur Musayev for organizing and running a criminal gang, though Manevich has not been put on trial with Aliyev. End note.) ¶10. (SBU) On January 25, Delovaya Nedelya published a broad report on the Aliyev investigation, and speculated that the ASTANA 00000357 003 OF 003 Grace CHURCH pastors may become witnesses in the closed trial of Aliyev and Musayev. The same article also described the KNB's October 23, 2007 detention of Anatoliy Rebrov, who was arrested as part of the same overall investigation into Aliyev and all of his associates. According to the article, his Almaty apartment "looked like a wireless interception center." ¶11. (SBU) These news reports followed a statement purportedly from Tsoy,s wife, Natalya Filippova, which appeared on the Free Asia website (www.freeas.org) on October 30, 2007, claiming that Tsoi has been accused of importing eavesdropping devices into Kazakhstan. Filippova appealed for help, explaining that her husband is an honest businessman, is sick, and has been detained since July 9, 2007 in a KNB pre-trial investigation facility without any formal charges. She said that he is accused of working for the CIA and Western intelligence and of importing eavesdropping devices into Kazakhstan. She denied all the charges, and claimed that someone in the government or close to the president wants to seize her husband's business. -------------- INVESTIGATION COORDINATED BY KNB IN ASTANA -------------- ¶12. (SBU) Local officials, such as the religious affairs official in the Karaganda Oblast administration, routinely tell the press that they do not know the reasons for the Grace CHURCH investigation, and that it is being handled by the KNB in Astana. Amanbek Mukhashov, the deputy chairman of the Religious Issues Committee in the Ministry of Justice and a frequent Embassy contact on religious freedom issues, consistently has been unable to offer information beyond what is reported in the press. Responding to concerns about the investigation raised by the US delegation at the OSCE permanent council meeting on February 7, 2008, Kazakhstan's OSCE representative Kairat Abdrakhmanov stated that "(a)s far as the Grace Presbyterian CHURCH is concerned, I would like to inform that some of its activists in some cases go beyond their usual CHURCH activity." He offered to provide further information at a later date. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶13. (C) The timing of the investigation, the central KNB's control, the consistent indications of treason charges, and the connections between some of the people involved all suggest that that there is more to this case than the religious persecution of a non-traditional religious group. Nevertheless, the KNB has long perceived the Grace CHURCH as a threat to Kazakhstan, as evidenced by previous public comments by the deputy chief commander of the KNB Counter Terrorism Center (reftel). As a result, it appears that the authorities are using this opportunity for a very deep and wide-ranging investigation of one of the most active non-traditional religious groups in the country. The investigation and the accompanying negative media attention threaten the future of the Grace CHURCH in Kazakhstan, and raise the prospect of wider pressure on other non-traditional groups by using charges that are ostensibly not related to purely religious beliefs or activities. ORDWAY