Russia & Former USSR

An Uzbek criminal court has sentenced Christian pastor Dmitry Shestakov to four years in a prison colony for alleged “illegal” religious activities.

Prominent Protestant pastor Dmitry Shestakov was sentenced Friday, March 9, to four years’ exile within Uzbekistan for his evangelistic activities, Christian rights watchers observing the trial said.

Salavat Serikbayev, 32, and Makset Djabbarbergenov, 26, did not make their court date on Monday (February 26) in the regional capital of Nukus to face charges of leading an unregistered religious meeting. The pastors declined to make public the reason for their absence from court.

Uzbekista’s religious authorities admitted publicly for the first time this week that an Uzbek Christian pastor was arrested last month in the eastern city of Andijan and now faces criminal charges.

A major Christian rights group expressed concern Wednesday, February 7, about Uzbekistan’s “harshening crackdown on religious freedom.”

An evangelical pastor remained behind bars in Uzbekistan Monday, February 5, more than two weeks after he was detained by secret police on charges of “incitement to hatred on national, racial or religious grounds.”

Authorities in Azerbaijan have launched a crackdown on a church movement of ex-Muslims which grew from 40 to 18,000 members since the former Soviet republic gained independence in 1991, an organization supporting the reportedly persecuted Christian converts said Thursday, February 1.

Uzbek secret police arrested a Protestant pastor from his church in Andijan last weekend, seven months after a regional prosecutor had accused him of committing high treason.

Uzbekistan’s secret police detained Protestant Pastor Dmitry Shestakov at his church in the city of Andijan last weekend, after a regional prosecutor had accused him of “committing high treason,” a Christian news agency reported Thursday, January 25.

Missionaries and church leaders warned Thursday, August 11, that Russia’s new law on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) could lead to persecution of devoted Christians “reminiscent of the Soviet era.”