Christians in the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan suggest a recent government crackdown against the church there is reminiscent of the old Stalinist tactics of Soviet era communism.
Pastor Dmitry Shestakov was sentenced on March 9th to four years internal exile for illegal religious activity including the distribution of materials “promoting religious extremism.” Shestakov is an evangelist who has openly shared his faith with non-believers. He is affiliated with the legally registered Full Gospel Church, yet government prosecutors charged at his trial that he was not an authorized leader of an official church. The state news agency called him an “imposter”.
Evidence against Shestakov—videos, CD’s and printed materials were reportedly passed on to professors at the Adijan State University for evaluation. Shestakov’s attorney says that was a violation of Uzbek law because only the federal Committee on Religious Affairs has the authority to evaluate religious materials. The court ignored evidence presented in Shestakov’s defense proving his affiliation with the Full Gospel Church. The Uzbekistan court has yet to decide which Soviet era penal colony will house Shestakov for the next four years. The photo accompanying this Blog is of Shestakov’s 6-year old daughter, Vera (Faith in Russian) praying for her daddy in his car.
Uzbek Christians say the Shestakov case is only one example of a more restrictive, repressive response against them from a paranoid, undemocratic regime.
18 pastors were detained last January 15th when police burst into an informal prayer gathering near Nukus. The pastors were apparently forced to sign statements admitting the gathering was a Christian one. The Uzbek government does not allow unregistered religious meetings.
Last August, Uzbek Christians suffered arrests, imprisonment, torture and deportation at the hands of police. 27 believers were arrested during a raid on their unregistered church gathering in Termez. Six of the Christians were reportedly beaten severely by police.
In September, Pastor Sergey Khripunov and his family were stripped of their Uzbek citizenship because of their unregistered church activities. They were deported to Moscow.
Also, the government reportedly shut down at least a dozen foreign religious charities in 2006 deporting hundreds of Christian workers.
Todd Nettleton, spokesman for The Voice of the Martyrs told us in a recent interview, “The Uzbek government lumps evangelical Christians in the same boat with radical Muslims. They consider all of them to be anti-government, they consider all them to be undermining the authority of the government and so, whether you are a radical Muslim or an evangelical Christian, they want to stop you.”
Sound reminiscent of the Soviet communist approach? Joseph Stalin would be proud.
Uzbekistan story Links:
http://www.persecution.com/news/index.cfm?action=fullstory&newsID=504
http://forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=928
