Uzbekistan

Crackdown On Evangelicals In Central Asian States

Authorities in three Central Asian nations have launched a crackdown on evangelical Protestant churches and several believers are reportedly mistreated, fined and detained.

Uzbek Math: 2 Bibles = 5 years

In Uzbekistan, having more than one Bible can make you a missionary, and being a missionary in Uzbekistan can get you five years in jail.

Fines for “Unsanctioned Meeting in Private Home”

The Baptist Council of Churches refuses to register their churches with Uzbekistan; the Council views registration as a precondition for exercising freedom of religion to be against the binding international human rights agreements Uzbekistan formally promised to implement.

Baptist Church Raided in Uzbekistan

Secret police officers and other officials raided the Sunday worship service of an unregistered ethnic Korean Baptist Church in the town of Chirchik in Tashkent Region on Feb. 5.

Uzbekistan Churches Banned from Evangelism, Youth Worship

Authorities in eastern Uzbekistan have warned local churches not to allow youngsters and children to attend their worship services and not to carry out missionary activities or “proselytism”, the word for evangelism, local Christians and activists said.

Uzbek Christians Suffer as Regime Tightens Noose

At least four incidents of Christian persecution were reported from the former Soviet country of Uzbekistan this week. According to an analysis and report researched and written by Fernando Perez for the World Evangelical Alliance – Religious Liberty Commission, a Christian woman was beaten into concussion, another woman was fined $1,465 by a court for giving the New Testament to a child, a Christian man was threatened with axe attack by a police official and another man was assaulted by police.

High Price To Pay For Being A Christian in Uzbekistan

Being a Christian in Uzbekistan can be costly. Just ask Galina Shemetova who was ordered to pay a fine of 2,486,750 som, 50 times the minimum monthly pay for giving a colleague a children’s Bible. This amounts to $60,320US, four times the yearly pre-tax salary of a 40 hour-a-week minimum wage earner. Miss Shemetova not only had to pay the fine, but she was also beaten physically by police, a fact known by the Tashkent Court of Appeals.

Uzbekistan: Police beatings, axe death threat, and more

Uzbekistan continues to persecute Christians exercising their religious rights. Recently a Christian in eastern Uzbekistan was beaten by police, another was threatened with death by an axe while a Baptist congregation was promised prison for failure to co-operate in a pre-trial investigation of their pastor.

Uzbekistan Protestant sentenced for “teaching religion”

A Pentecostal Christian in Uzbekistan faced a difficult Sunday, May 13, after receiving a two-year suspended prison sentence in Nukus, the capital of the Karakalpakstan autonomous republic in north-western Uzbekistan, on charges of teaching religion illegally, human rights watchers and local Christians confirmed.

Uzbekistan Pastor Appeals Against Labor Camp Sentence; Journalist Jailed

A court in Uzbekistan on Tuesday, May 1, began hearing evangelical Pastor Dmitri (David) Shestakov’s appeal against his sentence to four-years in one of Uzbekistan’s open labor camps on controversial “religious extremism charges,” Christians close to the case said.

Uzbekistan Detains Evangelical Pastor; Jails Activist

An evangelical pastor remained detained in Uzbekistan Friday, April 27, after he was reportedly arrested in Muynak a city in Uzbekistan’s troubled region of Karakalpakstan, while an activist was sentenced to six years in jail.

Uzbekistan Pastor Appeals Against Labor Camp Sentence

Protestant pastor Dmitry Shestakov has appealed against the four-year sentence to one of Uzbekistan’s open labor camps which was imposed by authorities in retaliation for his Christian work, investigators and local Christians close to the case said Friday, March 23.

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