Christian Persecution – Europe

Authorities have launched an investigation into the killing of a Baptist pastor and missionary in the northern Tajik town of Isfara, a region known for its devotion to Islam,

After being beaten into a coma three months ago for alleged “missionary propaganda,” Turkish Christian Yakup Cindilli is slowly improving from a nearly helpless state at his home, where his family has given him constant care for the past month.

The leader of a persecuted Baptist community in Turkmenistan has been freed after six days of detention at the feared secret police headquarters of the former Soviet republic, a human rights watchdog said Monday, Dec. 22

Presbyterian Christians are forced to meet secretly in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan as the authorities are increasing pressure on non Muslim groups, ASSIST News Service monitored Thursday March 13.

Bulgaria's Protestant churches have urged President Georgi Parvanov to veto a law that would force non-Orthodox Christians and other minority groups to obtain court approval to operate in the Balkan country.

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Baptists in Yugoslavia have asked for urgent prayers for their country caught in the grip of political crisis as opposition forces try to force President Slobodan Milosevic to step down from office after being narrowly defeated at the polls by Vojislav Kostunica.

SANTA ANA, CA (ANS) -- Turkish security police ordered a Protestant Christian congregation meeting for 40 years in the southeastern port city of Iskenderun to close its doors in mid-June, declaring the church had "no legal basis" and that its activities were harmful to society, Compass Direct reported today.

ISTANBUL, May 7 (Compass) -- Protestant pastor Ahmet Guvener goes on trial in Turkey's southeastern city of Diyarbakir in late May, accused by the state prosecutor of making illegal changes in the architectural plan of his nearly completed church building.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (ANS) -- A Hungarian Reformed Pastor continues to preach the Gospel despite alleged death threats and opposition from Russia and Communists who he says still rule the Hungarian village of Doboz, near the Romanian border.

BUDAPEST/PRISTINA (ANS) -- The NATO peacekeeping force in Kosovo (K-FOR) has identified a British soldier who died while guarding a Serbian Orthodox Church in the regional Capital Pristina, ASSIST News Service learned Wednesday December 19.