VZCZCXRO5238
RR RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0150/01 0341441
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 031441Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1203
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 2651

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