Protestants say secret police encouraged a former church member to lodge a suit against New Life Church – now in court in Pavlodar - claiming back pay and compensation for moral damages for volunteer work in a rehabilitation centre. "This is not a state campaign against the Church," a local religious affairs official claimed, though the individual met officials and a state-backed anti-"sect" centre. Jehovah s Witnesses are appealing a decision awarding large "compensation" to two former members. An assessment of their literature, claiming it caused psychiatric harm, listed a work by Andrei Snezhnevsky, leader of Soviet-era psychiatric abuse.
Photo: Kazpravda.kz/Talgat Akhanov Today, December 23, West Kazakhstan region’s specialized district court for criminal cases announced the verdict to 18-year-old student of the medical college, Nazar Sapargaliev. He was found guilty of murder and was sentenced to 15 years in jail, Mgorod.kz reports. The court also ordered Nazar Sapargaliev to pay 10 million tenge of moral compensation to the wife of the deceased. The tragedy took place on April 13 in Kamysty village, Zhanibek district. Nazar Sapargaliev and his friend Rakhymgaliev, while walking, met two older fellow villagers Zhumabaev and Ualiyev, who began to demand to buy them beer. When they were refused, they beat them and threatened to break their legs next time.