A Christian leader in western Uzbekistan’s autonomous Karakalpakstan region has been jailed since July 25, accused by local police of drug possession.
Nicholai Rudinsky was arrested just a few hours after Nukus police had closed down a church youth camp he helped organize. The officials claimed that the local church had “no right to operate a religious camp.” The camp was the second of two youth camps held during July in a camping facility near Nukus and sponsored by the local Mir Presbyterian Church.
Some 50 children had attended the first camp session with incident. Nukus city authorities reportedly did not send the children home from the camp facility but replaced the church’s camp staff with their own secular personnel.
According to a local source, Rudinsky had come from a nearby city to visit the Mir church on July 25 when word came that the police were closing down the children’s camp. As one of the camp organizers Rudinsky promptly went to the facility, where he told the authorities that the camp was sponsored by a registered church and was legally funded.
But after Rudinsky returned to the church, the source said, police put him under arrest and took him in for interrogation, which lasted four hours.
Life term threatened
Security police investigators told Rudinsky he could be imprisoned “for the rest of his life” if he did not cooperate with their investigation. To date, however, he has apparently refused to answer some of their questions concerning the organizers and sponsors of the camp.
When the police searched him during the interrogations, the source said, “they claimed to have found 0.2 grams of opium in his pocket.” Although the jailed Christian leader has been able to consult local lawyers, so far they have been unable to confirm if any official charges have been filed against him.
“Nicholai was beaten many times, one of his friends said. “He is very sick and needs medical help.” At Nukus Prison, he is being allowed only one visit a month with his wife.
No further actions have been reported against the pastor or other members of the Mir church, although the congregation has not been allowed to meet since Rudinsky’s arrest.
In a similar incident, Keston News Service reported earlier this summer that Uzbek authorities near the capital of Tashkent had refused permission in May for a children’s summer camp to be sponsored by the Evangelical Christian/Baptist Union of Churches. The cancelled church camp was to have been held on a collective farm in Bostanly’s district.
Last year, four Uzbek Christian leader were arrested and given prison sentences ranging from five to 15 years on trumped-up charges. Three of them, including one pastor, were from Nukus. After months in jail, all were released in a surprise order issued by Uzbek President Islam Karimov.
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