The last legal Protestant church in the autonomous region of Karakalpakstan (Qoraqalpoghiston) in northwestern Uzbekistan has lost their official registration on appeal.  According to a July 11 report from Forum 18, members of the Emmanuel Full Gospel Church had been appealing a ban on religious activities by the regional Justice Ministry.  On July 5, a court in the regional capital of Nukus rejected the appeal, closing the last legal church in the region.

In 1998, a new religion law was passed in Karakalpakstan making any religious activity outside of an officially recognized church illegal.  Christians in the region are routinely harassed and pressured to leave Christianity.  In one recent case (June 29), a convert from Islam to Christianity, Daniyara Ibaidulayev, was beaten by his brother and another villager in the village of Yanboshkala in Tartkul district on the outskirts of Nukus.  The village administration has also cut off Ibaidulayev's gas supply and it has forbidden him to use water for growing food.  When Ibaidulayev appealed for help, the district's public prosecutor's office told him that his problems would all cease as soon as he returns to Islam.

Pray for Ibaidulayev and others suffering for their faith in Uzbekistan.  Pray for Christians who must now meet in secret in order to continue worshipping Jesus Christ.

For more information on the persecution of Christians in Uzbekistan, click here.

On June 11, the body of 65-year-old Kim Khen Pen Khin was found on a street in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.  Kim was a U.S. citizen who had been working with Pentecostal churches in Uzbekistan.  Since her death, police investigations have centered on members of the Pentecostal churches.  However, according to Forum 18, it appears that police are more interested in the practices of the Christians than in finding the one responsible for Kim's death.

Since Kim's death, seventeen church members have been questioned, sometimes for several hours.  According to one church member, "They were insulted, humiliated and threatened. Police spoke to them in the way you would not even speak to animals. Each day it is getting worse and worse."  Three members have been severely beaten, including a pastor who was treated for a concussion.  One of those arrested was told by a Lieutenant-Colonel of the police that "all Christians are animals who have sold themselves to America and should be shot as this is a Muslim state."  One church member, 19-year-old Kural Bekjanov, was originally accused of Kim's murder.  After two days, those charges were dropped but when police found out he was a Christian, the torture began. His ribs have been broken and needles were inserted under his fingernails in an attempt to make him renounce his faith in Christ.

This is not an isolated incident.  In Termez on the southern border with Afghanistan, police arrested and severely beat the pastor of the church.  They then took the church members to see him and warned them that they would suffer the same fate.  In the western town of Urgench, the worship service on June 26 was raided by police and some of the members were detained for questioning.  The church has been trying to register for two years and the pastor had been discussing a new registration application with authorities the previous week.

Pray for endurance for Christians throughout Uzbekistan facing mistreatment because of their faith in Jesus Christ.  Pray that authorities will see the love of Christ in the lives of those whom they arrest.  Pray that Christ's peace will reign in the hearts of every believer.

For more information on Uzbekistan and the persecution facing Christians there, click here.

Pastor Sergey Khripunov

The Bethany Protestant Church in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent is facing opposition from authorities for holding services.  On June 10, two members were convicted for illegally teaching their faith.  According to Forum 18, Nail Kalinkin was sentenced to fifteen days in prison and his daughter, Marina, was fined the equivalent of $84.00 CDN.

Two days later, the church service was disrupted when four police officers burst into the room and demanded that the meeting be stopped.  Six people, including the pastors Nikolay Shevchenko and Sergey Khripunov , were detained and ordered to give written statements.  According to VOM sources, when they refused to do so without a lawyer present, they were threatened and held until evening.  Later that evening, they received a telephone call from the police further threatening them and demanding that they return to the police station at 5:00 a.m. the next morning.  They refused to do without a legal summons.  A hearing on the charges facing the pastors was planned for June 17.  It has now been rescheduled for July 7.

Speaking to a VOM contact, Pastor Sergey Khripunov said that they can be imprisoned for fifteen days for the first conviction, but could face three to eight years if they continue to gather.  The church has approximately one hundred members who meet in smaller Bible study groups.

Khripunov has asked for the prayers of God's people.  "Pray for us, that the Lord [will give] us a possibility to stand through, so that we [will] stay faithful under these circumstances, in which we live and work. Pray that this does not influence the young believers, because some were tempted, unfortunately, because of the persecution. People are afraid to hold services openly. Pray that God [will give] power to withstand…."

For more information on the situation facing Christians in Uzbekistan, click here.