UZBEKISTAN: Christians Harassed

ICC Note:

Although a brief sum-up of recent harassment against Christians, this article touches on numerous human rights violations in Uzbekistan.

5/17/2012 Uzbekistan (VOM)- Police in Uzbekistan raided a home where Christians were meeting in the search for an alleged bomb, which was never found. Christian books and a laptop were confiscated, however, and 14 members of the church gathering in the home were fined for holding an “unsanctioned meeting in a private home.” Natalya Kim, who was hosting the meeting, received a fine equivalent to 60 times the minimum monthly salary in Uzbekistan.

In another incident, three Christians were fined for not declaring their personal Bibles while crossing the border from Kazakhstan into Uzbekistan, and the Bibles were confiscated.

All religious literature in Uzbekistan is under tight, state censorship, and courts frequently order the destruction of religious literature. Some churches are standing against the unjust laws, and churches belonging to the Baptist Council of Churches refuse to register their churches with the state, since requiring registration is a violation of the international human rights agreements Uzbekistan has formally promised to implement.

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