Uzbekistan: Christians fined, Bibles seized
An Uzbek court has fined 10 Christians for meeting without the permission of the Uzbekistan state.
An Uzbek court has fined 10 Christians for meeting without the permission of the Uzbekistan state.
Kazakh authorities recently raided a church-run children’s camp after claiming the children were being taught religion illegally and without their parents’ permission.
Christians in Uzbekistan are becoming “prisoners of conscience” just for exercising their religious rights.
Last month a court in the Russian city of Orel sentenced a pastor to five days in prison.
A drug and alcohol rehabilitation center run by Christians in the village of Sychevka in north-eastern Kazakhstan has been fined and closed down for three months after a court order last month, according to Barnabas Aid.
In separate incidents, two Kazakh Christians have been issued large fines for practicing their religion without the state’s permission, according to Barnabas Aid.
Two men were sentenced last month after Kazakhstani authorities confiscated the Christian books they were handing out near a market in Shchuchinsk, according to Barnabas Aid.
A Christian in Uzbekistan has been fined and threatened with further punishment after religious literature was seized from his home during a raid by Uzbek police in August, according to Barnabas Aid.
A Christian father of three has been jailed in Kazakhstan for refusing to pay a fine for leading a worship service in his own home, according to Barnabas Aid.
Christians in Uzbekistan are being blocked from burying their dead in state-owned cemeteries as secular officials bend to pressures from Islamic religious leaders, according to Barnabas Aid.
A church in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, is appealing a decision allowing local authorities to confiscate its building, according to Barnabas Aid.
Christian organizations in Russia that teach secular education may face harassment from government officials, according to Barnabas Aid.
A private homeless shelter run by a Christian in Belarus has been legally stripped of its license to operate, according to Barnabas Aid.
Pastor Bakhytzhan Kashkumbayev was released yesterday on three years’ probation following a bizarre trial and nine months of imprisonment, according to International Christian Concern.
Although charges of “propagating extremism” leveled against a 67-year-old Presbyterian pastor were dropped Wednesday by a court in Kazakhstan’s capital of Astana, the minister still remains in prison, according to International Christian Concern.
International Christian Concern reports that a 67-year-old pastor was charged with religious extremism and imprisoned just hours after he had been released to house arrest for supposedly harming the health of his parishioners.
After his arrest in May, International Christian Concern reported that Pastor Bakhytzhat Kashkumbayev has been severely mistreated by the Kazakhstan government while it continues to hide his whereabouts.
Last month, a Christian children’s camp in Uzbekistan was raided by riot police; all the children were subjected to questioning and the homes of the camp’s organizers were searched, according to BarnabasAid.
International Christian Concern is calling for the immediate release of a pastor in Kazakhstan who has been falsely imprisoned.
A pastor in Kazakhstan was arrested last month for allegedly serving hallucinogens to his congregation while wielding a powerful psychological influence over them.