RELIGIOUS MINORITY GROUPS FACE RED TAPE, NOT CLOSURE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DUSHANBE 000150

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KRFR TI
SUBJECT: RELIGIOUS MINORITY GROUPS FACE RED TAPE, NOT CLOSURE

REF: A) 09 DUSHANBE 1435 B) 09 DUSHANBE 575

DUSHANBE 00000150 001.2 OF 003



1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Most of Tajikistan's previously registered
religious groups and nearly all mosques completed mandatory
re-registration with the Department of Religious Affairs (DRA)
before their January 1, 2010 deadline. The Dushanbe synagogue
was not able to re-register because of a land ownership issue.
The DRA re-registered six of the Union of Evangelical Christian
Baptists' (UECB) member churches, but not the Union itself. The
Head of the DRA blamed his Department's failure to re-register
these groups on bureaucratic snags, promised to help the Baptist
and Jewish communities resolve their registration issues, and
pledged that the government would not interfere with their
activities in the meantime. On January 20, a Dushanbe court
upheld a ruling that the activities of a separate Baptist
congregation were illegal due to its refusal to apply for the
mandatory registration. END SUMMARY



UECB: FREE TO WORSHIP, BUT RE-REGISTRATION OF UNION DENIED




2. (SBU) Pastor Andrew Werwai of the UECB said the DRA
re-registered all six of the Union's previously registered
individual churches, but expressed frustration with the
government's decision to deny the UECB's application for
re-registration as an umbrella Baptist organization in a meeting
on February 1. Per the government's April 2009 Law on Religious
Practices, all registered religious organizations were required
to submit applications for re-registration to the Ministry of
Culture's DRA by January 1, 2010 (Reftel A). Werwai said that
he submitted the Union's application on December 18, 2009, after
months of bureaucratic delays in dealing with the DRA. "We
started the process in June, but had our papers sent back to us
fifteen times with requests for more documents." The DRA told
Werwai that it denied the UECB's application because it needed
to submit documents a month in advance of the January deadline
and that another Union that existed claimed the same name.
(NOTE: There are several Tajik Baptist organizations with
similar names. Post will seek to clarify this point as related
to the UECB's registration application.)




3. (SBU) Eight additional Baptist church congregations are
seeking to register, for the first time, under the UECB
umbrella. For a local congregation to register as a religious
organization, it must submit to the DRA, in addition to many
other documents, a certificate from the local government
administrator attesting that ten church members had been
resident in the area for at least five years. Werwai said
several local officials had not provided this required
certificate. The Roghun Mayor reportedly told the local Baptist
congregation that, because the UECB was now "illegal", their
activities too were illegal. He refused to provide them the
local certificate until the DRA registered the UECB. The Roghun
Mayor warned the Baptists, according to Werwai, that they could
soon face the same kind of pressure that Baptists face in
Uzbekistan if they are not careful. Most of the eight churches
had not faced similar problems, beyond the standard red tape,
and four already received the needed certificates.




4. (SBU) Government officials have not prevented any of the
UECB's churches from worshipping. "For now, we don't want to
create conflict with the government. We want to resolve it
quietly. They haven't stopped us from meeting as we have for 80
years. If they make any attempts to interfere with our worship,
or take our property, then we will be in front of the media."
Werwai asked the Embassy to intervene quietly with the DRA to
try to resolve the outstanding issues.



SYNAGOGUE: THE LAND PROBLEM THAT WON'T GO AWAY




5. (SBU) Dushanbe's only synagogue was not able to submit an
application for re-registration because the land is still
nominally owned by the president's brother-in-law, Hassan
Asadullozoda, who donated the facilities to the Jewish community
after the government bulldozed their former synagogue to build
the "Palace of the Nation" (Reftel B). The Jewish community
cannot apply for DRA registration until ownership of the
synagogue is officially transferred to a Jewish community
representative. As part of the registration process, religious
organizations must present documentation that their place of
worship is owned by a resident member of the group. Synagogue
leader Mikhail Abdurahmonov told Emboff that the government has

DUSHANBE 00000150 002.2 OF 003


not prevented the synagogue from conducting its normal
activities. A "sponsor" from the New York Bukharan Jewish
community travels to Dushanbe in mid-February to meet with
Asadullozoda and settle the registration issue. Abdurahmonov
hoped that the synagogue would be able to register following the
visit.



DEPARTMENT OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS: NOT OUR FAULT




6. (SBU) In a February 2 meeting with Emboff, DRA Head Idibek
Ziyoyev said his department did everything it could to register
Islamic and minority religious organizations before the January
1 deadline, completing re-registration of nearly all the
countries 3,250 Friday and "five-time" praying mosques. He
blamed the UECD for its failure to re-register, claiming that it
submitted late documents and that there were different Baptist
groups claiming the Union title. The Baptist Union and Jewish
community would need to register as new organizations since they
missed the deadline, but the government would not interfere with
their worship or activities while they complete the process.
The eight Baptist churches seeking new registration should have
no problem getting the necessary documents from local officials.
As soon as they submitted their applications, the DRA would
register them as religious organizations. The DRA would
register the synagogue as soon as it settled the property issue.





7. (SBU) Several additional religious organizations that had
previously been registered, including "International Wheel" and
"Leakhona", did not submit re-registration applications.
Ziyoyev said these and several other groups no longer existed in
Tajikistan. If they wished to register as new organizations,
they could submit the required materials at any time. Officials
have told the Jehovah's Witnesses that since they were banned by
court order in 2008, they may not register (Reftel A).




8. (SBU) Emboff underlined the importance of religious freedom
to the USG, explained that the UECD has a different
understanding of circumstances regarding denial of its
re-registration application, and noted the Embassy's concern
about the Roghun official's comments to the local Baptist
community. Emboff told Ziyoyev that the USG would appreciate
the DRA's efforts to facilitate registration of the UECD, its
eight affiliate churches, and the synagogue as soon as possible.
Ziyoyev promised to meet with Pastor Werwai next week to
discuss how to resolve the outstanding registration issues. He
repeated that neither the synagogue nor the Baptists would face
restrictions on their normal activities while completing the
registration process.



RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS CHIEF: TEACH US ABOUT RELIGION!




9. (SBU) Ziyoyev raised the country's 2009 Law on Religious
Practice and expressed confusion on why international observers
criticized its restrictions on religious activity. "Don't
religious organizations need to register in the United States?"
Emboff explained that, among other differences, in U.S. law
there were no restrictions on quantity or type of places of
worship within a given population area or residency requirements
for church founders. Ziyoyev explained that he was "not a
religion expert by profession" and that his staff lacked any
background in religious affairs because Tajik Universities
lacked courses in religious studies. "It would be good to
receive some kind of training on OSCE standards governing
treatment of religious groups and how registration is conducted
in different countries." Ziyoyev responded enthusiastically to
a suggestion that the U.S. Embassy and the DRA organize a
seminar on religious freedom and invite legal experts and
representatives of Tajikistan's religious communities.



NON-REGISTERED BAPTIST GROUP BANNED, BUT NOT BOTHERED FOR NOW




10. (SBU) On January 20, a Dushanbe city court upheld an October
26, 2009 court decision declaring the activities of a
non-registered Dushanbe Baptist Congregation illegal because it
refused to submit an application for registration to the DRA

DUSHANBE 00000150 003.2 OF 003


(Reftel A). Congregation leader Andrei Chumachenko called the
Embassy on January 21 to report the decision, but said that the
congregation would continue to worship as before. As of
February 3, the government has not prevented the congregation
from conducting its normal activities.




11. COMMENT: The synagogue and UECB are caught in a web of
post-Soviet bureaucracy, but for now the government, apart from
the Roghun Administrator, is not using the registration
procedures as a pretext to pressure the churches. Given the
culture of corruption in the Tajik government, officials may
view the synagogue's registration difficulties as a means to
extort money from the synagogue's donors. Further, the fact
that synagogue, or presumably any religious group, can not
register without owning property raises another restriction on
religious practice. Groups using rented or loaned facilities
should be allowed to operate legally. The Embassy will follow
up with the DRA, the synagogue, and the Baptist groups and
report on subsequent developments. The DRA Chief's admitted
lack of knowledge of religious affairs is emblematic of the
government's overall clumsy approach to managing religious
communities, but his enthusiasm for a training session on
religious freedom is promising. END COMMENT
GROSS