Kazakh pastor Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev walked out of prison Oct. 8, only to be arrested again at the prison gate on terrorism charges. The pastor, already awaiting trial on charges that he used a “red-coloured hallucinogenic drink” to cause psychlogical harm to a member of his congregation, was permitted to leave prison and await trial under house arrest. He was on his way out of the prison when several officials ordered him to accompany them to the police station.
There, according to the human-rights watchdog Forum 18, police questioned Kashkumbayev about whether he had engaged in “propaganda of terrorism or extremism” in connection with the case already lodged agasint him. He is being held at the temporary isolation prison of the Astana police, Forum 18 said.