Not long ago, in Almaty, the leaders of the church “New Life” – Maxim Maximov, Larisa Maximova and Sergey Zaikin – were convicted for causing serious harm to the health of parishioners and fraud. At the same time, the Almaty City Court refused accusations of persecuting church leaders for religious reasons.

“This criminal case was not initiated for religious reasons. The reason for the initiation of the case was the statements of the parishioners, against whom the church officials used forbidden psychotherapeutic methods during the sermons, as a result of which they transferred their property in favor of the church,” the court said to the press.

“The leaders of the church “New Life” were convicted of causing damage to the health of people and fraud in Almaty,” the press service of the Almaty City Court said.

It follows from the criminal case that the Religious Association “Bible Center ‘New Life’” was registered by Maxim Maximov in 1991. After 10 years, Maximov allegedly entered into a criminal collusion with his wife Larisa Maximova and Sergey Zaikin, and appointed them to senior positions in the Religious Association.

“Under the verdict of the specialized inter-district court for minors of Almaty, Maxim Maximov, Larisa Maximova and Sergey Zaikin, were found guilty of the crimes they were charged with. Maximov was sentenced to five years in prison with confiscation of property, and Maximova and Zaikin received four years in prison with confiscation of property,” the report says.

Meanwhile, Maxim Maximov himself is convinced that the leaders of the New Life are persecuted precisely for religious reasons. He wrote about this on his Facebook page.

“It seems that common sense has died in the judicial system of Kazakhstan and among the authorities. On the other hand, it is possible that, nevertheless, the country’s authorities, through this, officially began the persecution of Christians?” Maximov writes. “We were unfairly slandered and accused. The judge did not listen to any sensible argument, she only helped the prosecutors to correct the mistakes and absurdities of the investigation. The judge really corrected the mistakes of the investigators! She helped them to amend their blunders of the investigation. The “injured” brazenly lied, and at the same time, the investigators never even bothered to invite us for interrogation. And no one tried to find out the truth. They didn’t try to talk not once.”

In his open appeal, Maximov points out 14, as he calls them, shocks from the judicial system of Kazakhstan.

The first is that his wife was convicted of crimes that “allegedly took place while she was on maternity leave.”

“Larisa was convicted for being my wife. And the victims, they do not care whom to blame; as the investigator tells them, so they do. They used to blame all pastors, but then they decided to blame only three. Their testimonies, as well as the amounts, were constantly changing. So they wanted to get a recompense for their lies – more than a million dollars,” Maximov writes.

The pastor was also surprised by the fact that far fewer “victims” reached the court than at the beginning.

“The judge decided that not all of them were “injured” and removed half of the people from the “injured” category. It’s just not clear how suddenly half of the “seriously health injured” became healthy? How can it be that a half of the alleged victims, from whom we “stole money”, didn’t lose their property?” Maximov asks questions.

Maximov does not understand how the court established “grave harm to health” without the conclusion of doctors?

“How, without the participation of doctors, did the “victims” recover from serious injuries, and why didn’t they go to the hospital? Why did they all refuse a hospital medical examination? Obviously, there was no harm to health, but the court did not want to take this fact into account,” the pastor of New Life is convinced.

Another discord, according to him, they could not create an association in Kazakhstan in 1991, because at that time they lived in Sweden.

“On the other hand, Sergei Zaikin was only 16 years old in 1991; at that time, he lived and was a student in Temirtau, where he led a sinful lifestyle and was not saved. After 10 years, he became a priest in Almaty. But, the prosecutor insisted that we gathered in Almaty in 1991 and created a criminal organization. And all the so-called crimes took place between 1991 and 2001. At the trial, we stated that it was ridiculous and stupid. To correct this ridiculous mistake, the judge in the verdict decided to change the dates, thereby she crossed out the work of the investigation, and she herself helped the prosecutors. Can a judge help prosecutors?” Maximov writes.

Maxim Maximov notes that Kazakhstan has a tendency to persecute Christians.

“If you think that everything is OK in Kazakhstan, then tell me, where is Pastor Igor from the Church “Blagodat’” [“Grace”] in Karaganda, where is Pastor Kim Sam Song from the Church “Grace” in Almaty? Why was the pastor of the Church “Grace” in Astana convicted and kept in a psychiatric hospital where he got injection of an unknown medicine? Now power has reached the pastors of the New Life. Who is next on the list? Which church will be next?” Maximov asks.

Currently, the representatives of more than 130 ethnic and 18 faith groups live together in Kazakhstan.