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PERSECUTION.ORG
http://www.persecution.org

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Dr. Jeremy Reynalds
P O Box 27693
Alb., NM 87125-7693
Tel: (505) 400-7145
www.joyjunction.org

MASSIVE FINES AND JAIL PROPOSED IN UZBEKISTAN FOR SHARING BELIEFS

Uzbekistan intends to impose massive fines and jail people - and the leaders of their religious communities - for sharing their beliefs outside places of worship.

Uzbekistan is located in Central Asia, north of Afghanistan (www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/print/uz.html).

According to Forum 18 News Service, the proposals were made at an Aug. 4 meeting of religious leaders, called by the state Religious Affairs Committee in the country’s capital, Tashkent.

Those attending the meeting were representatives of state-registered religious organizations,
including the Spiritual Administration of Muslims in Uzbekistan, the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Central Asia, the Catholic Church in Tashkent, the Jewish community, the Baptist Union and the Full Gospel Church, a Pentecostal church. All unregistered religious activity is - against
international human rights standards - illegal in Uzbekistan.

According to Forum 18, the state Religious Affairs Committee told the religious leaders that they and their clergy must stop their members and those who regularly attend places of worship from sharing their beliefs with anyone outside their churches.

If anyone does share their beliefs outside church, it was proposed that they would be fined between 200 and 600 times the minimum monthly salary, Forum 18 reported the news service was told. One estimate from within Uzbekistan (detailed accurate economic information is closely guarded by the state) is that the minimum monthly salary is about 12 Uzbek Soms ($10 U.S.)

Those individuals persisting in sharing their beliefs outside a place of worship after being fined, would, along with the leader of their religious community, Forum 18 was told that the Religious Affairs Committee proposed, be jailed for between three and eight years.

Leaders of religious communities are fearful of openly attacking the proposals, Forum 18 was told, because of the danger of reprisals against their communities by the authorities. There is currently a crackdown on religious believers of many faiths taking place in Uzbekistan
(see F18News www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=807, www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=814, www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=816).

Forum 18 said that despite repeated attempts by the news service to question the Religious Affairs Committee about the proposals, it has refused to discuss them. Shoazim Minovarov, who used to be Chairman of the Committee, has been given promoted and is now Religious Affairs Adviser to Uzbek President Islam Karimov.

The proposals to fine and jail people for the sharing of beliefs outside places of worship is in direct opposition to Article 18 of both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Forum 18 reported. Uzbekistan is committed to that through its U.N. membership - and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - which the country ratified in 1995.

Forum 18 reported that both these binding international human rights standards state - in Article 18 - that, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

Forum 18 commented, “It is further evidence of Tashkent's commitment to breaking human rights commitments it has freely acceded to, including its commitments as a member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe” (OSCE).

The news service added, “These proposals are but the latest in a series of worsening changes to Uzbekistan's legal system, which directly contravene international human rights standards. The previously existing religious censorship rules have recently been considerably tightened with a new set of amendments, aimed at the production, storage, import and distribution of all forms of religious literature (see F18News www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=805).

There were also massively increased fines for unregistered religious activity introduced
at the end of 2005 (see F18News www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=720).

This is not the first time in the past two months, Forum 18 reported, that religious believers have been threatened with long jail sentences for peaceful legitimate religious activity.

Protestant Pastor Dmitry Shestakov had to go into hiding (see F18News www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=803) and then flee the country (see F18News www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=807), after apparently being charged with high treason and “inciting ethnic, racial or religious hatred.”

In addition, Forum 18 reported, Protestant Lepes Omarov - from the Karakalpakstan region - where all non-Orthodox and non-state-controlled Muslim activity is banned - has been threatened with up to three years jail for “breaking the law on religious organizations.” (see F18News www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=807)

In a further sign of an increased harshening of policy, yet another religious believer has been deported from Uzbekistan, Forum 18 reported.

A Baptist who is a Russian citizen, Ivan Bychkov, was deported on Aug.11 to Russia. The deportation was carried out by officials from the Visa and Registration Department of the Interior Ministry in the Mirzo-Ulugbek district of Tashkent.

Forum 18 reported that Bychkov was born and raised in Tashkent, where his family still lives. He led a youth group at the Bethany Baptist Church, which is part of the Council of Churches of Baptists whose members refuse on principle to register with the authorities in post-Soviet countries.

“Bychkov has not been given a reason for his deportation, but his only ‘crime’ was that of actively preaching the Gospel,” a Tashkent Protestant, who spoke to Forum 18 on condition of anonymity. His passport was stamped with the words, “Deported from Uzbekistan.”

The Mirzo-Ulugbek Visa and Registration Department did not answer the phone when Forum 18 made repeated attempts to contact them, the news service reported.

Deportation is an increasing form of attack by the authorities against religious believers. The victims so far have been Jehovah's Witnesses and Protestants holding citizenship from other countries, even if they are long-term residents (see F18News
www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=804, www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=775, and www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=774).

A Forum 18 correspondent was also detained and deported from Uzbekistan (see F18News www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=631).

At the same time, Forum 18 reported, Tashkent is continuing its crackdown on foreign non-governmental organizations (NGO’s) whose activity is thought by the authorities to be linked with human rights and religious activity.

Surat Ikramov, of the of the Human Rights Initiative Group of Uzbekistan, thinks that since Jan. 2006, at least 12 foreign NGO’s have been closed down, Forum 18 reported.

This appears to be part of increasing state attempts to isolate people in Ubekistan, Forum 18 commented, including religious believers, from the support of people in other countries (see F18News www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=665, www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=784 and 23 June 2006, www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=804).

For more background, see Forum 18's Uzbekistan religious freedom survey at
www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=777.