NUKUS, Uzbekistan — Uzbekistan continues to penalize people who distribute religious literature.
In two separate cases, Baptists from registered and unregistered churches are facing prosecution, fines and literature confiscations for distributing and possessing religious literature.
In the case involving members of a registered church, a local official said that “we just need to make sure what they teach in their homes, and they need to get special permission to have religious activity in a private home.”
In another case in the northwest of the country, Kurbangul Aveniyazova has been tried in her absence for the “illegal production, storage, import or distribution of religious materials” and fined 20 times the minimum monthly salary.
An Uzbek-language Bible and other material were also ordered to be destroyed.
When asked why she ordered the Bible to be destroyed, the judge said she had received religious expert opinion that it was not authorized. A phone call to the regional state Religious Affairs Committee was abruptly terminated before a reporter could ask why it had given an expert opinion that the Bible in Uzbek was unauthorized.
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