the case said in statements seen by BosNewsLife Friday, July 6.
The two men, Hudoer Pardaev and Igor Kim, both in their mid-thirties, also had Christian literature confiscated from them, said Forum 18, a religious rights group. The Yangiabad District reportedly sentenced Pardaev and Kim, who are from God’s Love Church, an unregistered Pentecostal congregation, June 12 Criminal Court.
They were given the ten-day prison terms under two articles of the Code of Administrative Offences: Article 240, which punishes "violating the laws on religious organizations", and Article 241, which punishes "violating the procedure for teaching religion," Forum 18 said.
Sixteen Christian books and eight CDs were apparently confiscated from them. In published comments, local Protestants said the accusations brought against Pardaev and Kim were "illegal". They said the two lodged official complaints with various state agencies.
In a separate case, 28-year-old Baptist Sharofat Allamova was reportedly detained for four days in mid-June after Christian books and films were found in her bag on a late-night bus from the central city of Samarkand to her home town of Urgench. She apparently faces criminal prosecution on charges of "violating the law on religious organizations" with a sentence of up to three years’ imprisonment. "She is currently at home awaiting further action against her," Forum 18 said.
POLICE "INSPECTION"
Allamova was stopped for an inspection at 11 pm local time on June 10 at a control post near the small town of Gijduvan near Bukhara, Forum 18 explained. Eleven books, eleven films on disc and other Christian material were apparently confiscated. The books included four copies of the New Testament and three copies of the Book of Proverbs in Uzbek, while the discs contained the ‘Jesus’ film and other Christian productions, the human rights group said. She was held by Gijduvan police for four days "with no arrest warrant or other documentation," Forum 18 added.
Following her detention, special forces also raided her home on June 14 in Urgench, seizing a total of 51 Christian books as well as four copies of the Baptist children’s magazine Tropinka, 25 audiotapes, three videotapes and six CDs, Forum 18 said, citing Christian sources in the area. Officials have refused to comment on the detentions.
It comes amid international concern about reported violations of religious freedom in the former Soviet republic. Last year the United States State Department added Uzbekistan to its annual lost of Countries of Particular Concern regarding religious rights violations. In recent comments, the American Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious, Freedom John Hanford, said that "Violations of religious freedom in Uzbekistan are widespread and severe, and the situation has continued to deteriorate…"
He said that the "already extremely restrictive religion law has been further tightened, congregations have been harassed and deregistered, and fines have been dramatically raised."
PARTICULAR CONCERN
By designating Uzbekistan as a Country of Particular Concern, the United States hopes the government will rethink its policies and undertake serious reforms, President George W. Bush said earlier. "Freedom of religion," he said, "is the first freedom of the human soul. We must stand for that freedom in our country. We must speak for that freedom in the world."
Human rights groups say pressure on Christians and other religious groups increased since the most recent violence in the eastern city of Andijan in May 2005 when troops opened fire on protesters against the jailing of people charged with Islamic extremism. Rights groups say at least several hundred civilians were killed, but the Uzbek authorities put the overall toll at less than 190.
The European Union imposed sanctions when the authorities rejected calls for an international inquiry and the US threatened to withhold aid. Soon afterwards parliament voted to demand that US forces leave their base in the south of the country.
Opponents of President Karimov blamed the authorities’ brutal determination to crush all dissent, but the president has blamed fundamentalists seeking the overthrow of "constitutional order and the establishment" of a strict Muslim state in Central Asia. (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos and reporting from Uzbekistan).
