11 March, 2009
Courtesy: http://www.familyfed.org

Victory in Kazakhstan for Liza Drenicheva

An appeals court in Almaty, Kazakhstan, ruled today that the two-year sentence of Elizaveta Drenicheva be commuted to time served (two months). The judge said that she will have to pay a fine of about $200 and pay court costs of about $800. Due to administrative issues, Ms. Drenicheva will not be out of  prison until Wednesday, March 11.   

The guilty verdict remains, however, and an appeal of the verdict is possible. The prosecution had asked that Ms. Drenicheva, a Unification Church missionary, be given three years’ probation, but the judge decided that she should be released immediately with no restrictions. After her release she may return to the Russian Federation, since she is a Russian citizen.

On January 9, 2009, Ms. Drenicheva was sentenced to two years in prison by Almalinsky District Court in Almaty, Kazakhstan, under the chairmanship of Judge Z. B. Keikibasova. She had been charged under Section 164, Part 1 of the Kazakh criminal code. The judge ruled that she was guilty of a “crime against peace and security of humankind” because she had allegedly taught that certain groups of people are inferior on the basis of their relation to “tribal and class identity.”

In fact, Mrs. Drenicheva was simply teaching the Unification Church’s doctrine on Original Sin, which holds that all human beings are born into a sinful state and need to attain salvation through God’s grace and their own efforts. The Unification Church is an officially registered religion in Kazakhstan and had received no previous indication from the government that its teachings were legally problematic.

Konstantin Krylov, a Russian Unification Church official who attended the hearing, thanked the groups that joined in this campaign to win Ms. Drenicheva's release, in particular the International Coalition for Religious Freedom (ICRF). He said there were about 10 observers in the courtroom, including a representative of the U.S. State Department, an official representing the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and some reporters, including one representing Radio Liberty. On Monday press releases urging that the sentence of Ms. Drenicheva be overturned were issued by the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, the Leadership Council for Human Rights, and the ICRF.

Mr. Krylov spoke by telephone today, saying the church legal team will consider an appeal of the verdict. There is no risk to Ms. Drenicheva if she appeals to Kazakhstan's Supreme Court, although a negative decision by the Supreme Court would be far-reaching. Yet, if the church does not appeal the decision, the government may continue to arrest church members for evangelical work.

Written by Doug Burton in Washington, D.C.