Uzbekistan Christian Could Face Five Years in Prison for Hosting Worship Services:
| A small Baptist congregation in Uzbekistan is under fire again from authorities.
The charge is failing to comply with a mandatory registration requirement. The church flock in Khalkabad near Pap in the eastern Namangan Region of Uzbekistan was harassed four years ago for not registering its activities with authorities. Uzbekistan is in Central Asia, north of Afghanistan. Local Baptists told Forum 18 News Service that police raided Sunday services on July 29 and August 5. Following the raids, church member Nikolai Zulfikarov – who hosts services in his home – could face criminal trial with a possible sentence of up to five years imprisonment. Baptists told Forum 18 that an investigation was initiated against Zulfikarov under Article 216 of the Criminal Code, which punishes so-called “illegal organization of a social or religious organization.” Charges are also reportedly being prepared against others present at the services, as well as Baptists from the city of Fergana who traveled to Pap to try and find out what is going on. “The authorities wanted to sentence Nikolai Zulfikarov immediately, but after church members complained the process stopped,” one Baptist speaking on condition of anonymity told Forum 18. “There’s now total silence, but it is not clear if this means they will abandon the attempt or if they are moving stealthily behind the scenes.” According to Forum 18, the head of the Pap District Criminal Investigation Department, Abdumalik Motboev, is leading the investigation into Zulfikarov and four other church members. An official who answered Motboev’s telephone and declined to give his name, confirmed to Forum 18 that a criminal case has been launched against Zulfikarov. However, the official said he did not know the details of the case. |