Pastor Yerzhan Ushanov of New Life Protestant Church in Taraz is looking at two years’ imprisonment if criminal charges for injuring an individual’s health ever come to court, Christian rights investigators said.
...continue reading this storyAt 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.
...continue reading this storyBeing 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.
...continue reading this storyUzbekistan 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.
...continue reading this storyKazakh Christians gathering without government approval were expected to face more punishments after officials said Kazakhstan’s long-time President Nursultan Nazarbayev won Sunday’s presidential poll.
...continue reading this storyAlthough recently released from a four-year jail sentence, former prisoner of conscience Dmitry Shestakov is still under the restrictions of Uzbekistan’s “administrative supervision”.
...continue reading this storyFive Baptists in Uzbekistan have failed to pay fines for participating in an unregistered worship service.
...continue reading this storyUzbekistan police confiscated a Christian’s private property and then imposed a massive fine on him for owning a film about Jesus.
...continue reading this storyProtestant Pastor Ilmurad Nurliev’s trial is slated for Oct. 21, nearly two months after his arrest on charges of large-scale swindling.
...continue reading this storyThe wife of an imprisoned Protestant pastor appealed to international observers — including the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe — to attend any future trial if her husband’s investigation reaches that stage.
...continue reading this story