Christian leaflets destroyed in Uzbekistan

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan — Nearly 600 Uzbek-language Christian leaflets for children were ordered destroyed by a court in Uzbekistan’s Tashkent region Aug. 12 — the third time Baptists have had confiscated literature destroyed on court order. Other books, including New Testaments, seized from a group of Baptists in July were ordered to be handed over to the government’s Religious Affairs Committee. The four Uzbek Baptists found guilty of “illegally” bringing in the books were each fined $35. Senior religious affairs official Begzot Kadyrov claimed that religious literature banned from distribution in Uzbekistan is not destroyed but returned to the country from which it was brought, though he admitted religious literature has been destroyed in the past.