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Uzbekistan

• Church Buildings Demolished Without Warning

  

  As the members of a Baptist church in the city of Urgench began to increase in numbers, they soon found themselves exceeding the capacity of their worship facility. To accommodate the growth, the congregation purchased a plot of land and began to construct a new church building. They had received all the necessary building permits to do so, and other developments were being built around them in various parts of the same vicinity.

• Proposed Law Introduces New Punishments for Religious Education

  

  A draft law, which is purported to "further strengthen the rights of children," recently passed its first reading in Uzbek parliament. However, the proposed legislation seeks to punish parents or guardians who allow their children to receive "illegal" religious education before reaching the age of 18.

• Easter Worship Services Raided

  

  While members of the Baptist church in Karshi, Uzbekistan, were gathered for worship on Easter Sunday, April 9th, police broke open the door and forced their way inside. Using electrical prods, they incapacitated some of the attendees while others cried and prayed. Ten members, including young people, were taken to the police station where they were held in custody until mid-afternoon. The detained believers were released after records of offence were drawn up against them.

• Christian Fined for Distributing Magazines

  

  This past Christmas, a neighbourhood celebration in Uzbekistan was hosted by Tatyana Akhmadiyeva, a member of a local Baptist church. At the event, she offered Christian magazines to 15 of her neighbours. Local authorities received a report about the distribution and summoned Tatyana for questioning. She was told that the publications had been imported illegally, since they had not been evaluated by the "Struggle with Extremism and Terrorism Department." As a result, the officials confiscated the magazines, which they claimed were unlawfully distributed, and fined Tatyana the equivalent of two weeks' average wages.

• Registration Applications Denied

  

  Although religious communities in Uzbekistan would like to obtain official permission (to exist), as required by the state, all their applications have been blocked. Protestant churches, Shia Muslim communities, along with groups of other minority religious affiliation, have not only had their registrations denied, but now they are being subjected to subsequent fines, torture and other punishments.

• Obstacles to Registration

  

  A small number of religious communities in Uzbekistan received their registration in late 2019. However, many others are encountering major obstacles in their attempts to obtain registration, which would allow them to function legally. While Christians are one of the religious communities affected, other groups are facing similar impediments -- including bribe demands, land use permits and outright rejection. Some have chosen not to apply at all, believing they will be rejected anyway.

• Woman Killed for Her Faith

  

  A Christian mother in Uzbekistan was killed by her husband on February 9th because she had recently accepted Christ. The attack happened at the Tashkent airport as she was attempting to flee the country.

  Problems for "Umida" (not her real name) began when her husband discovered that she had asked a friend for a Bible. In addition to locking Umida in their home to prevent her from going to church, he also banned her from seeing their two-year-old son. Eventually she was able to go live with her parents, along with their daughter. While living there, Umida attended church but continued to face threats.

• Military Joins in Church Raid

  

  On November 25th, a Baptist church in Tashkent was raided. While not an unusual situation, this is the first time such a raid included members of the Uzbek military, as the National Guard joined 20 plain clothes officials from the secret police, the Justice Ministry, and the district police.

  Official searched throughout the building, confiscating over 7,000 items - including literature, songbooks and DVDs. Fourteen of the church attendees were taken to the police station where they were detained for over nine hours and then forced to sign statements that they had participated in an "unauthorized meeting."

• Church Raid and Confiscations

  

  On September 30th, approximately 20 police officers raided a worship centre in Kyzl-Suu, searching the building and filming those present. The officers also brought along four unidentified women who began pushing people around, searching the bags of the women present and stealing anything they wanted. Despite protests, the police would not stop their actions.

• Clampdown on Christianity

  

  Throughout Central Asia, Christians are facing worship bans, arrest and torture as Islamic nationalism gains ground. In late August, we reported on a group arrested in Tajikistan for distributing Christian literature (read the report). Similar incidents are happening regularly in other neighbouring Central Asian countries, according to a recent report from VOMC's partner ministry, Release International.