Mar
13
2009
Victory in Kazakhstan for imprisoned missionary »
by mattjubbAn appeals court in Almaty, Kazakhstan, ruled today that the two-year sentence of Elizaveta Drenicheva be commuted to time served (two months). The guilty verdict remains, however, and an appeal of the verdict is possible.
On January 9, 2009, Ms. Drenicheva was sentenced to two years in prison by Almalinsky District Court in Almaty, Kazakhstan. 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.
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