Uzbekistan Secret Police Detains Protestant Pastor
TASHKENT/BUDAPEST — Uzbekistan’s secret police detained Protestant Pastor Dmitry Shestakov at his church in the city of Andijan last weekend, after a regional prosecutor had accused him of "committing high treason,".
It is said the 37-year-old pastor is apparently accused of "incitement of national, racial and religious enmity," under the Soviet republic’s penal code.
If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison. Authorities began to "harass him" in May 2006, apparently in reaction to the conversion to Christianity of some ethnic Uzbeks, it is said.“Uzbeks started coming to faith in his church, and this was not good news to the authorities,” one Tashkent who knows him was quoted as saying.
Shestakov, his wife and three daughters apparently went into hiding in June 2006 after regional prosecutor Kamolitdin Zulfiev accused the pastor of committing treason. Police reportedly also raided the pastor’s house, temporarily detaining Shestakov and confiscating videos of his sermons.
NATIONAL STATE SECURITY
Although the pastor was ordered to list all of his church members, he refused to do so. "It was clear that the National State Security were going to find something to charge me with and remove me from my position as a Christian pastor," Shestakov said in an interview.
Authorities also searched Shestakov’s Andijan church, confiscating religious CDs and videos and pressuring members of the congregation to testify against their pastor,it is said.
Human rights groups say Uzbekistan’s legal infrastructure violate internationally recognized norms of religious freedom. Local prosecutors frequently file "falsified charges" in order to obtain arrest orders against religious leaders perceived to be a threat against "national security," local Christians and outside observers say.
TASHKENT/BUDAPEST — Uzbekistan’s secret police detained Protestant Pastor Dmitry Shestakov at his church in the city of Andijan last weekend, after a regional prosecutor had accused him of "committing high treason,".
It is said the 37-year-old pastor is apparently accused of "incitement of national, racial and religious enmity," under the Soviet republic’s penal code.
If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison. Authorities began to "harass him" in May 2006, apparently in reaction to the conversion to Christianity of some ethnic Uzbeks, it is said.“Uzbeks started coming to faith in his church, and this was not good news to the authorities,” one Tashkent who knows him was quoted as saying.
Shestakov, his wife and three daughters apparently went into hiding in June 2006 after regional prosecutor Kamolitdin Zulfiev accused the pastor of committing treason. Police reportedly also raided the pastor’s house, temporarily detaining Shestakov and confiscating videos of his sermons.
NATIONAL STATE SECURITY
Although the pastor was ordered to list all of his church members, he refused to do so. "It was clear that the National State Security were going to find something to charge me with and remove me from my position as a Christian pastor," Shestakov said in an interview.
Authorities also searched Shestakov’s Andijan church, confiscating religious CDs and videos and pressuring members of the congregation to testify against their pastor,it is said.
Human rights groups say Uzbekistan’s legal infrastructure violate internationally recognized norms of religious freedom. Local prosecutors frequently file "falsified charges" in order to obtain arrest orders against religious leaders perceived to be a threat against "national security," local Christians and outside observers say.
posted by Foch at 12:28 PM
