Uzbek Baptist fined for holding religious meetings

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan — Sergei Kozin, a Baptist, has been fined 80 times the minimum monthly wage for holding unregistered religious meetings after a police raid on a group of Baptists who were reading on holiday together. The case — as also in one other recent case — was brought even though it was beyond the legal time limit to bring charges. Baptists stated that the case was “fabricated,” with the alleged witness not producing the required identity documents. The judge in the case had noted the lack of evidence of legal documents produced by police.

In another case, five officials raided a home in Fergana without a search warrant. When the wife of the occupant refused entry to the officials, they “pushed her out of the way” and “with threats” entered the house. The occupant is expected to be charged with storage of religious materials. And in another case, after being summoned to a police station for questioning, two schoolgirls stopped going to a church. The police threatened them that “they will be in police records and thrown out of school,” Baptists said.