A Baptist Pastor in Kazakhstan was preparing for a difficult period Sunday, June 11, after being fined more than three times the estimated average monthly salary for leading "registered religious activity," Christian rights investigators said.
...continue reading this storyEvangelical Christians in the ex-Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were on edge Saturday, May 6, ahead of Sunday worship services as security forces in both countries reportedly raided church gatherings and threatened believers, including children, while confiscating Bibles.
...continue reading this storyHuman rights officials in Europe and the United States expressed concern Wednesday, May 3, over the persecution of Christians in the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan, nearly a year after hundreds of people died when security forces opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators.
...continue reading this storyPolice officers from Uzbekistan's criminal investigation department burst into the home of a Protestant pastor in northwest Uzbekistan last week, disrupting 12 people as they were having lunch together. The pastor and another believer were charged with "breaking the laws on teaching religion."
...continue reading this storyThere was concern Saturday, April 8, over the future of Christian radio in Russia after the Ministry of Culture and Mass Communications refused to renew the radio license of a key evangelical radio station, an official said.
...continue reading this storyAn influential evangelical mission group in the former Soviet Union expressed concern Wednesday, March 29, over a "crackdown" on Christian believers in Belarus following the re-election of President Alexander Lukashenko.
...continue reading this storySergey Shavtsov, a lawyer and prominent human rights activist, was arrested, tried and sentenced to 10 days imprisonment in Belarus for organizing an "illegal religious activity," a UK-based religious rights group said Monday, March 27.
...continue reading this storyBelarus is ruled by Soviet-style totalitarian dictator, Aleksandr Lukashenko. Popularly elected in 1994, he has since then maintained his grip on power through propaganda, repression, fraud and violence. In late 2002 Belarus adopted the most repressive Religion Law in all Europe. Unregistered religious groups are illegal, and registration is severely restrictive.
...continue reading this storyThe persecution of Protestants continues throughout Uzbekistan, says Igor Rotar writing for Forum 18 News Service (www.forum18.org).
...continue reading this storyPastor Georgi Vyazovsky of Christ's Covenant Reformed Baptist Church in Belarus was freed from a Minsk prison for Administrative Violations Code offenders shortly after midday local time today (13 March) on completion of a ten-day sentence for conducting religious worship in his own home.
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