UZBEKISTAN (ANS) -- There were a number of punishments and attempts across Uzbekistan to halt peaceful minority religious activities regarded by the authorities as illegal.

Uzbekistan is located in Central Asia, north of Afghanistan.

Forum 18 News Service reported that during February a Baptist in the eastern city of Fergana and a Pentecostal in the Tashkent Region were fined for conducting religious activities without state approval. Jehovah's Witnesses in the central city of Samarkand were raided, and some of their members were assaulted by the police.

In addition, Grace Church in the capital Tashkent - which had already been stripped of its property and legal status after a long state campaign - was finally forced to halt all its activities.

Baptist sources told Forum 18 that Fergana City Criminal Court found Eduard Kim guilty of violating Article 240 of the Code of Administrative Violations, which punishes “violation of the laws on religious organizations.” He was fined 372,600 Sums (or 287 US dollars) for holding what the court said were “illegal religious meetings” in his house. This represents about nine months wages for the average city worker.

The court case followed a raid on Kim's house during Sunday morning worship on Feb. 3 by 10 state officials. Baptists told Forum 18 that only three of the officials identified themselves: the district police officer Captain Rustam Khaitov, Major Bakhramov of the Criminal Investigations Department, and Farkhod Akhmedov of the city Justice Department.

Forum 18 reported that police ignored the Baptists' request not to enter the private property and disturb the gathering. Forum 18 learned that law enforcement entered, and started videotaping the approximately 40 people present without their permission.

Afterwards Kim was taken to the District Police Station to write a confession and sign the official record written by the police officers, which he refused to do. According to Forum 18, police then initiated an administrative case against him.

Forum 18 said that just before the Feb. 26 trial, which lasted about 20 minutes, Khaitov of the District Police explained to Kim verbally what was written in the case materials since they were in Uzbek, a language Kim does not understand. The court rejected Kim's arguments that he and his friends had gathered to sing songs and read Bible verses, which is not prohibited by law.

Forum 18 tried to reach Akhmedov at Fergana city Justice Department to ask why the Baptist meeting at Kim's home had been raided. The person who answered the phone – who introduced himself as Akhmedov's boss, Utker Khutkarov - said the Baptists were holding "illegal" meetings.

Forum 18 said that asked by the news service whether the officials violated people's privacy by videoing the house and the faces of those present he responded, “I will not go into details but we did everything right because these people violated the law.”

Bakhromov of the Fergana City Police Department said he was too busy to speak to Forum 18, but said through a colleague the reason they had raided Kim's house was that he and his fellow Baptists had opened an illegal church.

Judge Shukhrat Akhmedov, who presided at the trial, told Forum 18 that the court had been right to convict Kim, as he had hosted “illegal religious meetings” in his house. Asked by Forum 18 whether it was allowed for people in Uzbekistan to gather peacefully in private houses and have prayers, sing songs and read religious literature together, Akhmedov responded that it was an organized meeting and they did not have the legal status required to hold such meetings.

“In any case, the Baptists have appealed against our decision to the regional court, and I don't want to argue now whether they are allowed to gather in such manner or not.”

Akhmedov told Forum 18 that the regional court hearing is scheduled for March 17.

Forum 18 said that the Council of Churches Baptists - to which Kim's congregation belongs - refuse to apply for state registration on principle. In non-compliance with Uzbekistan's international human rights commitments, unregistered religious activities are banned and punishable under the law with fines and imprisonment.

Forum 18 said that in theory it is possible for a community to register with 100 adult citizen members, though in practice it has been very difficult for communities to gain registration.

Of more than 30 Jehovah's Witnesses congregations in Uzbekistan, for example, only one has legal status. Members of one Jehovah's Witness community which applied for legal status faced not only a rejection, but fines and death threats.

In the city of Samarkand, in central Uzbekistan, Jehovah's Witnesses were raided in mid-February by the Regional Police Department, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. They said that, among other harassment, a young female Jehovah's Witness was sexually molested and a young man beaten on the head.

Forum 18 said that meanwhile, Grace Presbyterian Church in Tashkent - which had state registration - has been forced to stop functioning as a church. That after a long-running campaign by various state agencies that has seen threats to its legal status and the cancellation of its 1999 purchase of its place of worship – a former move movie theater. Criminal charges against church leaders were dropped in January, though hostile articles in the media have continued.

Church members told Forum 18 that they received a letter from the Hokimat (local executive authority) of Tashkent's Khamza District signed by the Hokimat chief, Shukhrat Abdukadyrov. The letter demanded that the Church stop its activities as a religious organisation, in view of the Tashkent City Criminal Court decision stripping it of its legal registration.

Forum 18 reported that the Feb. 8 letter reached Grace Church on Feb.15, and the church stopped its regular worship services as of the beginning of March. Forum 18 was told that members of the Grace Church have dispersed and some are attending different churches for the time being.

Forum 18 asked Bahadyr Kurbanov of the Tashkent District Hokimat, who was responsible for preparing the letter to the Grace Church, why it was stripped of its legal status and property.

“They violated the laws on religious propaganda and not everything was in order with the auction whereby they had purchased their building,” he told Forum 18.

Asked why any religious organization should be held responsible for propagating religion peacefully, as they are set up to propagate their religion, Kurbanov said he could not go into details since he did not participate in the court case.

In a separate case, Protestant sources told Forum 18 that Pentecostal pastor Kamal Musakhanov was found guilty on Feb. 26 of breaking Article 241 of the Code of Administrative Violations, which punishes “violating the rules on teaching religious doctrines.”

Judge Oibek Umurazakov of Kibrai District Criminal Court of Tashkent Region fined him 93,150 Sums (or 72 US Dollars). Musakhanov leads a congregation in the village of Maisky which is affiliated with a registered Pentecostal church. The fine is just over two months average wages.

Judge Umurazakov refused to discuss the case with Forum 18. “Musakhanov has received a copy of the decision, and he can complain to a higher court,” was all he would say.

All religious activity in Uzbekistan is tightly controlled by the state authorities. The majority Islamic community's religious freedom also suffers from the authorities’ repression, such as strict controls on the numbers of Muslims allowed to go on the haj or the umra pilgrimages.

For more background, see Forum 18's Uzbekistan religious freedom survey at www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=777.
 

Jeremy Reynalds is a freelance writer and the founder and director of Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter, http://www.joyjunction.org or http://www.christianity.com/joyjunction. He has a master's degree in communication from the University of New Mexico, and a Ph.D. in intercultural education from Biola University in Los Angeles. His newest book is "Homeless in the City: A Call to Service." Additional details about "Homeless" are available at http://www.HomelessBook.com He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. For more information contact: Jeremy Reynalds at jeremyreynalds@comcast.net. Tel: (505) 877-6967 or (505) 400-7145. Note: A higher resolution JPEG picture of Jeremy Reynalds is available on request from Dan Wooding at danjuma1@aol.com.