Source: www.forum18.org
Date: May 22, 2025
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18
On 17 April, five months after his arrest, the trial began of True and Free
Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church Pastor Pavel Schreider. If convicted on
charges of "incitement of racial, ethnic, national, religious, or regional
enmity" when "committed by a group of individuals", the 65-year-old faces a
five to seven year jail term. The trial at a court in the capital Bishkek
is due to resume on 29 May.
Pastor Schreider is denying all the charges in court. "There is not a
single reference in the indictment to the persons in collusion with whom
Schreider allegedly committed the mentioned crimes, and no references to
any specific names," his lawyer Akmat Alagushev told Forum 18. "Also there
is no concrete evidence of illegal actions Schreider allegedly committed in
the media, on the internet or publicly or otherwise" (see below).
The National Security Committee (NSC) secret police arrested Pastor
Schreider at his home in Bishkek in November 2024. Officers searched his
home and those of about 10 other church members. They seized thousands of
books, including Bibles, as well as cash and mobile phones (see below).
NSC secret police officers tortured Pastor Schreider and another detained
church member Viktor Tsoy during interrogations. "I was given blows on my
head, chest and given kicks in my spine from behind by five officers,"
Pastor Schneider wrote in a November 2024 complaint to the National Centre
for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment in Bishkek. Officers "hit me with an iron pipe to
force me to confess that I committed crimes" (see below).
NSC secret police officers used a stun gun to try to coerce Tsoy to write a
statement against Pastor Schreider, causing multiple injuries. However,
Tsoy refused to do so (see below).
An official of the National Centre for the Prevention of Torture and Other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment claimed to Forum 18
that the Centre responded in writing in January to Pastor Schreider's
complaint both to him in the prison and to his Lawyer. She declined to say
what the response contained or whether the Centre had conducted its own
investigation (see below).
Officials of the Centre told Pastor Schreider's daughter, Vera Schreider,
in January that "it forwarded the complaint to Bishkek City Prosecutor's
Office and that it received an answer that the claims of Schreider [about
the torture] could not be corroborated" (see below).
Interior Ministry official Azim Kurmanbekov, who participated in the arrest
of Pastor Schreider, claimed to Forum 18 he was "not aware" of the torture
of the two men (see below).
Siymyk Bolotov, Investigator of Bishkek City Division of the NSC secret
police, adamantly denied that he or other officers tortured Pastor
Schreider and church member Tsoy during the investigations (see below).
Kanat Birimkulov, Deputy Prosecutor of Bishkek, endorsed the charges
against Pastor Schreider on 25 December 2024 before the case was handed to
the city's Birinchi May Court. Bishkek City Prosecutor's Office refused to
put Forum18 through to him or to comment on the case (see below).
On 19 March, in a civil case opened by the NSC secret police and brought to
court by Chuy Regional Prosecutor's Office, Alamudun District Court
declared the True and Free Seventh-day Adventist Church an "extremist"
religious organisation and banned its activity throughout the country (see
forthcoming F18News article).
The regime has jailed others for exercising freedom of religion or belief
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Muslim prisoner of conscience Asadullo Madraimov has been jailed since
October 2023 for criticising the authorities for closing Kara-Suu
District's Al-Sarakhsi Mosque. Another member of the community, Mamirzhan
Tashmatov, was freed from prison in May 2024. In July 2023, a court jailed
Protestant Aytbek Tynaliyev for 6 months for allegedly "inciting religious
enmity" for social media posts sharing his faith.
The authorities "since 2022 were looking into closing our Church and
seeking any excuses"
The True and Free Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church in Kyrgyzstan is part
of a reform movement within Adventism that emerged during the Soviet
period. (It is separate from the Seventh-day Adventist Church, with its
headquarters in the United States.) One of its leaders, prisoner of
conscience Vladimir Shelkov, died in a Soviet labour camp in 1980
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
The Church – which is led by Pastor Pavel Schreider - chooses not to seek
state registration. Exercising freedom of religion or belief without state
registration is illegal and punishable
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
The authorities "since 2022 were looking into closing our Church and
seeking any excuses", church members, who asked not to give their names for
fear of state reprisals, told Forum 18 in mid-May 2025. They noted a case
brought in 2021 against two church members. "Allegedly under instructions
of Pastor Schreider, they manipulated an old woman, another member of the
Church, into selling them a house she owned."
Church members told Forum 18 that they believe the cases against Pastor
Schreider and the Church were "fabricated". "Now the authorities have added
the confiscated books to the false witness statements." They say the
authorities are trying to link the current criminal case against Pastor
Schreider with the 2021 case.
Pastor Schreider's arrest, multiple house searches
Officers of the National Security Committee (NSC) secret police arrested
Pavel Davidovich Schreider (born 10 January 1960), Pastor of the True and
Free Reform Seventh-day Adventist Church, at his home in Bishkek on 13
November 2024.
"At around 8 am my father was detained and handcuffed by NSC secret police
officers when he exited the yard of our house into the street. Apparently
they were waiting for him there," the Pastor's daughter, Vera Schreider,
complained to Forum 18.
A team of nine officers, including Siymik Bolotov, NSC secret police
Investigator, Azim Kurmanbekov, Interior Ministry senior operative as well
as two officers of the Special Police Detachment, who were both masked and
armed with automatic rifles, "rang the bell of our door and when we opened
they entered with my father handcuffed. They pushed my father's head down
as though he is some dangerous criminal. They did not allow my father to
talk to us. 'It is a secret case,' they told us and prevented us calling
our lawyer by immediately taking away all our phones. They also did not
allow us to examine their identification documents."
Also on 13 November 2024, officers searched Schreider's Bishkek home. They
then took him handcuffed to the village of Lenin in Alamudun District of
Chuy Region, just north of the city, to the church's place of worship.
There they conducted another search. The home belongs to Pavel Yantsen,
Schreider's relative and a citizen of Kyrgyzstan.
The officers on the same day conducted searches in the homes of nine other
church members in Bishkek. They confiscated in total more than 2,000 books,
including nearly 200 by Ellen White, a founder of the Adventist faith, as
well as more than 50 Bibles. Also confiscated were computers and other
technical equipment, as well as cash and mobile phones, and the ownership
documentation for five homes and two cars.
All confiscated items were returned later except for one mobile phone,
which the NSC secret police officers claimed was "lost during the
operation", as well as the books that were used as evidence in the case
(see forthcoming F18News article).
NSC secret police tortures Adventists
Vera Schreider and members of the True and Free Reform Adventist Church
told Forum 18 that NSC secret police officers tortured Pastor Pavel
Schreider and church member Viktor Tsoy during interrogations.
On 13 November 2024, the day of his arrest, officers took Pastor Schreider
to the NSC secret police building in Bishkek. "I was given blows on my
head, chest and given kicks in my spine from behind by five officers,"
Pastor Schneider wrote in a 20 November 2024 complaint to the National
Centre for the Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment in Bishkek, seen by Forum 18. Officers also kicked
him in the stomach and "hit me with an iron pipe to force me to confess
that I committed crimes".
NSC secret police officers invited medical workers after the torture of
Pastor Schreider and "made them sign a paper that I had made no complaints
to them".
On 14 November 2024, NSC secret police officers used a stun gun to try to
coerce church member Tsoy to write a statement against Pastor Schreider,
causing multiple injuries on his body. (Forum 18 has seen pictures showing
injuries, taken the same day.) However, Tsoy refused to do so. He was
released later that day.
Kyrgyzstan is a party to the United Nations Convention against Torture and
Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
(https://www.ohchr.org/en/inst
This defines torture as "any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether
physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such
purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a
confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or
is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a
third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when
such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the
consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an
official capacity."
Under the Convention, Kyrgyzstan is obliged both to arrest any person
suspected on good grounds of having committed, instigated or acquiesced to
torture "or take other legal measures to ensure his [sic] presence", and
also to try them under criminal law which makes "these offences punishable
by appropriate penalties which take into account their grave nature".
An official (who did not give her name) of the National Centre for the
Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment claimed to Forum 18 on 22 May that the Centre responded in
writing on 8 January to Pastor Schreider's complaint both to him in the
prison and to his Lawyer Aybek Omurov. (Akmat Alagushev took over as Pastor
Schreider's lawyer in February.)
Asked what the official answer was and whether the Centre conducted its own
investigation, the official declined to discuss this with Forum 18. "You
can send us an email," she responded.
Vera Schreider told Forum 18 that in early January she visited the Centre
and was told there that "it forwarded the complaint to Bishkek City
Prosecutor's Office and that it received an answer that the claims of
Schreider [about the torture] could not be corroborated".
Interior Ministry official Azim Kurmanbekov, who participated in the arrest
of Pastor Schreider, refused to comment on the case on 15 May 2025. "I only
accompanied the NSC officers in their operation. They arrested and
questioned him," he told Forum 18. "I am not aware of it," he claimed when
asked why Pastor Schreider and church member Viktor Tsoy were tortured
during interrogations.
Operative Kurmanbekov appears to have lied to Forum 18 since the Indictment
includes in the list of evidence the records of questioning by him of
Schreider and other Church members. When confronted, Kurmanbekov declined
to talk further to Forum 18. "Please, talk to the NSC," he said.
Siymyk Bolotov, Investigator of Bishkek City Division of the NSC secret
police, on 15 May adamantly denied that he or other officers tortured
Pastor Schreider and church member Tsoy during the investigations. "You
understand, I cannot discuss the case details with you over the phone. You
need to call our Headquarters in Bishkek about this." He then declined
further to talk to Forum 18.
The Officer who answered the phone of the NSC secret police headquarters in
Bishkek on 15 May (who did not give his name) wrote down Forum 18's
questions as to why the NSC secret police opened a criminal case and
arrested Schreider and why it initiated the process of banning of the True
and Free Reform Adventist Church as an extremist organisation. The Officer
refused to answer the questions or to put Forum 18 through to any
officials.
NSC secret police threats to confiscate Adventist-owned homes
Vera Schreider lamented to Forum 18 that the NSC secret police officers
also threatened her father and Pavel Yantsen, who owns the house where the
Church met for worship, that their homes will be confiscated. "We will make
sure that you lose everything," officers told them.
NSC secret police opens criminal case
The National Security Service (NSC) secret police opened the criminal case
against Pavel Davidovich Schreider (born 10 January 1960) on 1 November
2024 and investigated it. It brought charges against the pastor under
Criminal Code Article 330, Part 2, Point 3. This punishes "Incitement of
racial, ethnic, national, religious, or regional enmity" when "committed by
a group of individuals". Punishment is a five to seven year jail term.
Kanat Birimkulov, Deputy Prosecutor of Bishkek, endorsed the charges on 25
December 2024 before the case was handed to the city's Birinchi May Court.
Bishkek City Prosecutor's Office refused to comment on the case to Forum 18
on 21 May 2025. The duty official (who did not give her name) wrote down
Forum 18's name and questions but refused to put it through to Prosecutor
Birimkulov. She agreed to put it through to Prosecutor Aybek Japarov but he
also refused to answer Forum 18's questions.
Multiple NSC secret police claims in the indictment
The indictment against Pastor Pavel Schreider (seen by Forum 18) was
prepared and signed on 25 December 2024 by Alaibek Nurgaziyev, Chief of the
Investigation Department of Bishkek City Division of the NSC secret police,
as well the NSC secret police Investigator Siymik Bolotov. It was endorsed
by Prosecutor Kanat Birimkulov.
The indictment claims that "Schreider, being a citizen of the Russian
Federation, having all the conditions for leading a normal life, being on
the territory of the Kyrgyz Republic and being obliged to comply with the
legislation of the host country, embarked on the path of committing a
deliberate grave crime against the foundations of the constitutional order
and state security under the following circumstances."
Vera Schreider and her father are indeed citizens of the Russian
Federation. "I was born in Russia but we decided to move to Kyrgyzstan in
2013 since my father was born in Talas district of Kyrgyzstan and we as a
family liked Kyrgyzstan," she told Forum 18. "We thought it was a good
place for living and keeping our Christian morals."
The indictment reads that "Schreider, with all his unidentified criminal
accomplices, knowing that the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic
guarantees the equality of human and civil rights and freedoms regardless
of race, nationality, attitude to religion, ethnicity, deliberately
encroaching on the honour and dignity of citizens, including
representatives of state power, their constitutional rights and freedoms,
which they can use and protect regardless of national, ethnic or racial
affiliation, conceived of inciting religious hatred to undermine the
integrity and security of the state."
Vera Schreider told Forum 18 that "All they have as their proof are the two
false witnesses that they use in this case and some Christian books that we
used where there are some critical statements about Islam and other
religions." She added that "my father has not done or said anything
dishonouring the state authorities."
The indictment continues, "Schreider, being the head of an underground
religious society called the 'Reformation Movement of World Union of True
and Free Seventh-day Adventists', which conducted its activities based on
independent doctrine with categorical religious nature and principles among
the population of the Kyrgyz Republic, in particular in the city of Bishkek
and Chuy Region, since 2013 to the present time, has illegally organised a
religious cell based on the fundamentals of the Protestant Christianity,
where he manipulated [church members], as well as through [religious]
literature which manifests a negative-aggressive nature in relation to
other religions."
"This underground group is not registered in Kyrgyzstan Republic as a
religious organisation, and the books of this religious organisation have
not been permitted by the State Commission for Religious Affairs," the
indictment notes. (All religious literature needs to undergo state
censorship (https://www.forum18.org/archi
can be distributed.)
(On 13 April 2025, President Sadyr Japarov renamed the State Commission for
Religious Affairs – which controls religious activity
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Agency for Religious and Inter-Ethnic Relations.)
Judge Ayke Musayeva of Alamudun District Court of Chuy Region on 19 March,
in a civil case opened by the NSC secret police and brought to court by
Chuy Regional Prosecutor's Office, declared the True and Free Seventh-day
Adventist Church an extremist religious organisation and banned its
activity throughout the country (see forthcoming F18News article).
"Schreider, together with his associates, determined where his
organisation's members should work and who they should marry," the
indictment adds. It said that "to convince his associates", Pastor
Schreider gathered every Saturday "in an unregistered church" in the
village of Lenin in Chuy Region. It noted that the place "is registered
with government agencies as a private house where Schreider, together with
the unidentified leaders of the underground religious movement, taught
religion using the [confiscated] literature."
The indictment adds: "According to the conclusion of the forensic religious
and linguistic examination of the Justice Ministry experts, [the
literature] promotes superiority, exclusivity of the adherents of the
Adventist Church, and vice versa, inferiority, hostility, harmfulness of
other religions and confessions, especially the Islamic religion, as well
as Buddhism and Judaism."
It concludes: "This literature arbitrarily interprets canonical and ancient
religious texts [Bible and Koran]. Schreider by his deliberate actions
[usage of these books], committed a crime under Article 330, Part 2, Point
3 of the Criminal Code".
Contradictory "evidence" from two witnesses
Among the "evidence" against Pastor Schreider are records of police
interrogations of Vladislav Selov and Pavel Klimovich, the two witnesses
who wrote statements against Pastor Pavel Schreider.
Selov claims in his statement Pastor Schreider "instructed Church members
to manipulate his grandmother to sell her house".
Klimovich also claims in his statement that his mother was "manipulated by
Schreider and Viktor Tsoy to sell her home to the Church".
Klimovich gave conflicting statements to Forum 18 about his statement to
NSC secret police. Asked on 22 May 2025 why he complained against the
Church to the authorities, he responded: "They are an extremist and secret
organisation. I was a member of it and I left it."
Forum 18 noted that though the Church was not registered the authorities
knew where they met and there was no secrecy about them, and asked
Klimovich why he complained. "Well, you don't really know them, they have
secret codes, and their law says that they must not be registered with the
state. And they exalt themselves above other religions. They give false
hopes to people that when they die they will go to heaven and have eternal
life."
Forum 18 pointed out all Christian Churches teach about eternal life and
refusal to register with the state does not violate his rights as a
citizen. Klimovich then changed his statement, telling Forum 18, "Well my
complaint is not mainly about that but that the Church manipulated my old
mother to transfer the ownership of one of her flats to the Church."
Klimovich told Forum 18 that both his mother and 42-year old sister attend
the Church. Asked why his sister did not complain about a possible "fraud",
Klimovich claimed, "She has been brainwashed by that Church too." Asked why
his brother, who according to him lives in Russia, did not complain about
the case, "Well, he is busy and asked me to take care of this issue."
Klimovich then admitted to Forum 18 that he asked "a few more people to spy
for me in the Church. They are at the moment recording conversations and
filming the Church services and members. Soon there will be other criminal
case against other members of the Church." He did not specify names of the
targeted members or what charges might be brought. Asked whether he or the
NSC secret police asked them to do so, he once again changed his statement.
"No actually they are doing it of their own accord."
Klimovich then declined to talk further to Forum 18.
Church members told Forum 18 that Klimovich stopped attending the church
when he was 13. They believe he became involved in gangs, and his mother
sold the flat to pay off "bandits" who were demanding money from him.
Adventist Pastor's criminal trial begins in Bishkek Court
On 28 March 2025, the NSC secret police announced the raids and criminal
case (without identifying Pastor Pavel Schreider) and the ban on the True
and Free Seventh-day Adventist Church on its Instagram page.
Prosecutors handed the criminal case against Pastor Schreider under
Criminal Code Article 330, Part 2, Point 3 ("Incitement of racial, ethnic,
national, religious, or regional enmity" when "committed by a group of
individuals") to Bishkek's Birinchi May (Pervomaisky) District Court. In
late April, the case was assigned to Judge Ubaydulla Satimkulov. The trial
began with a preliminary hearing on 17 April, with the first substantive
hearing on 16 May. It is due to resume on 29 May.
Pastor Schreider is denying all the charges in court. "There is not a
single reference in the indictment to the persons in collusion with whom
Schreider allegedly committed the mentioned crimes, and no references to
any specific names," his lawyer Akmat Alagushev told Forum 18 from Bishkek
on 22 May. "Also there is no concrete evidence of illegal actions Schreider
allegedly committed in the media, on the internet or publicly or otherwise.
There are no signs in the actions of Schreider of a crime provided for by
Article 330 of the Criminal Code."
"I will thoroughly investigate the charges, claims of the parties and
witnesses against and for the defendant," Judge Satimkulov insisted to
Forum 18 on 14 May. Asked whether he will also investigate the torture of
Pastor Schreider and other members of the Church by NSC secret police
officers during questioning for coercing confessions, he replied: "Let the
defendant's lawyer petition the court about it." He declined to talk
further to Forum 18.
Vera Schreider, daughter of the Pastor, participated in the first hearing
on 16 May. "My impression was that the Judge was looking for any little
proof to declare my father guilty," she told Forum 18. "We have to wait and
see whether he will really thoroughly investigate the false claims of the
NSC secret police and the two witnesses, one of whom, many believe, is an
undercover police informant."
Pastor Schreider's 6 months in pre-trial detention
Since his arrest on 13 November 2024, Schreider has been kept for more than
6 months under NSC secret police supervision at an Interior Ministry
Investigation Prison in Bishkek:
720005 Bishkek,
Oktyabr District,
Geologicheskiy pereulok 2,
Uchrezhdenie No. 21 Ispolneniya Nakazaniy,
Pavel Davidovich Schreider
Vera Schreider visited her father in the Investigation Prison on 20 May and
said he is "doing well physically", she told Forum 18. "He was examined
medically by various doctors recently after our multiple calls to various
authorities. The food in the prison is normal. He can read his Bible, which
he keeps in his cell and is allowed to pray."
The duty officer at the Investigation Prison put Forum 18 through to Nazgul
Ashiraliyeva, Chief of its Special Detachment, on 20 May. Ashiraliyeva
declined to discuss Pastor Schreider's case or conditions, but claimed that
"We give necessary medical attention to all the prisoners." She declined to
talk further. (END)
More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Kyrgyzstan
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
For more background, see Forum 18's Kyrgyzstan religious freedom survey
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Forum 18's compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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