Uzbekistan still searches homes and fines people for meeting and having religious literature, claiming in one case to look for a gun. After one person admitted to reading Christian books at home, their home was raided and Bible confiscated. Elsewhere, a Bible was destroyed.
Source/Credit: Forum 18 News
By Mushfig Bayramm | December 2017
On 10 November police in Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan raided the private flat of Irina Stepanova, a member of the local state-registered Baptist Church. Police claimed that they were looking for an allegedly illegally stored gun, but concentrated on confiscating Christian books. She now faces charges for possessing Christian books and other Christian material.
On 19 November, 14 officials from various agencies, including the local police Struggle with Extremism and Terrorism Department, raided the private home of Stanislav Kim in Urgench in Khorezm Region in north-western Uzbekistan. People meeting for Sunday morning worship were arrested, interrogated for two hours and threatened at a police station. Christian books were confiscated. After one person admitted under interrogation to reading Christian books their home was also also raided and books including their personal Bible were confiscated.
After police in August 2017 followed a Protestant Pastor from Urgench and others they had put under surveillance on a visit to Kungrad in the neighbouring Karakalpakstan Region, large fines were imposed on Protestants and one person was tortured. More fines have now been imposed for having religious books in a private home, and texts including the Bible have been ordered to be destroyed. Further fines may soon be imposed.
In the region around the capital Tashkent, police in Yangiyul District raided the private homes of people in the local state-registered Baptist Church and confiscated literature as the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief Ahmed Shaheed was visiting the country. There were multiple violations of legal procedure in the raids and searches, and Baptists thought that some of those raided would be fined for exercising freedom of religion and belief. Three people including a Pastor have now been fined.
And on 4 November, six Muslim prisoners of conscience were freed after long jail terms. All had been jailed in connected trials for meeting to study the works of theologian Said Nursi and discuss their faith.
Alleged "gun" search, Bibles and Christian texts confiscated
On 10 November police in Andijan [Andijon] in eastern Uzbekistan raided the private flat of Irina Stepanova, a member of the local state-registered Baptist Church. Against international human rights law, only religious communities with such state registration are allowed to exist (see Forum 18's Uzbekistan religious freedom survey http://forum18.org/archive.php?article_id=2314). Without showing a legally-required search warrant, a group of five officials who refused to identify themselves forced their way into the flat at 1 pm. One official was in police uniform, but the rest wore plain clothes.
The officials claimed that Stepanova "illegally stores a gun in her flat", Baptists who asked to remain anonymous for fear of state reprisals told Forum 18 on 4 December. But the officials apparently ignored the alleged "gun" while searching the flat, and instead confiscated three Bibles, one Baptist songbook, Christian magazines, Christian booklets, 22 CD and DVD discs, and 6 personal notebooks with poems.
Andijan Police have opened a case under Administrative Code Article 184-2 ("Illegal production, storage, or import into Uzbekistan, with the intent to distribute or actual distribution, of religious materials by physical persons") against Stepanova. The possible penalty is a fine of between 20 and 150 times the minimum monthly wage, "with confiscation of the religious materials and the relevant means of their production and distribution" (see Forum 18's Uzbekistan religious freedom survey.
Read original post here: Uzbekistan: No religious books allowed, Bible ordered destroyed
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