Fears of new religious decree in Kyrgyzstan
Friday, 7th March 2008
By: Nick Mackenzie

A HARSH new decree that would have brought in tough controls on religious groups in Kyrgyzstan has been dropped, but the Forum 18 News Service reports that a new version could be introduced as early as the end of this month.

Kanat Murzakhalilov, Deputy Head of the State Agency for Religious Affairs, told Forum 18 News Service that his agency hopes to present a final draft of a controversial new Religion Law to the government by the end of March.

He refused to say if the draft will require 200 adult citizen members before a community can gain legal status, a provision in the latest publicly-available draft which is opposed by the Russian Orthodox, the Catholics, many Protestant Churches, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Baha'is. But he stated that registration will continue to be compulsory. the rest