Baptists in Kazakhstan have appealed to the country's President Nursultan Nazarbayev to meet with them to discuss the harassment of their congregations.

In their letter, which the head of the religious affairs committee of the government confirmed it had received, the Baptists declared, "We have many facts with documentary confirmation that recently the right to freedom of conscience and freedom of religious confession is being seriously trampled on in our country."

Written against the background of the detention and fining of over 40 of their members for worshipping in unregistered churches, the letter expresses grave concern that actions against their churches and members will only get worse, the Baptist World Alliance (BWA) has reported.

According to Forum 18, a Norway-based religious news service, even though the Baptists wrote to the president at the end of December, they are still awaiting a response.

Mirbulat Zakypov, head of the Public Department of the Presidential Administration, indicated that the president is unlikely to meet with the Baptists. "The Baptists are complaining about the change to the law, but this does not fall within the competence of the president," Forum 18 quotes Zakypov as saying.

The law referred to was the adoption of amendments to the Law on National Security in July 2005, which require churches to register and impose heavy fines for failing to do so. But the Council of Baptist Churches, which has more than one hundred congregations across Kazakhstan, refuses on principle to register with the state as it believes this leads to unwarranted official intrusion into its internal affairs, the BWA has explained