for public attention Friday, March 21, after a week of reported raids, arrests and threats, BosNewsLife learned.
Human rights activists have repeatedly warned that the fight against terrorism and war in Iraq, may take away some of the interests of world leaders in violations of religious and other human rights as they seek to build a global alliance.
The situation has been especially serious in Turkmenistan, where officers raided last week’s Sunday morning worship service of Baptists, the well informed Forum 18 News Service (F18News) reported Friday, March 21.
F18News, which closely monitors religious persecution, said the incident happened at an unregistered Baptist church in the city of Balkanabad, in the western part of the troubled country.
It was not immediately clear if any of those who organized or attended the service would face charges under the code of administrative offences, as authorities were unavailable for comment.
ACCUSED AND BANNED
"They accused us of holding an unapproved meeting and violating the law on religious cults," F18News quoted the church statement as saying. "They banned us from meeting until we had registered our church with the justice authorities, and warned us that otherwise, a police officer would be present at each of our services."
Some believers have been imprisoned, while others were forced either to hide in their own country or leave for exile abroad. Protestant Christians, Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hare Krishna devotees, Baha’is, and even the Armenian Apostolic Church have been denied any public religious activity, F18News said.
Analysts have linked the clamp-down to an apparent assassination attempt on President Saparmurad Niyazov last November, saying it will make life more difficult for religious believers.
SUMMONED AND WARNED
The situation seemed to resemble tensions in north western Azerbaijan where the Baptist Anzor Katsiashvili, was reportedly summoned by the local procurator earlier this month and was warned not to hold religious meetings in his home.
"He told me I don’t have the right to preach as I’m not an Azerbaijani citizen," Katsiashvili was quoted as saying by F18News. "At the same time I’ve been denied citizenship for the past few years because I preach. It’s a vicious circle."
He apparently rejects the procurator’s claim that he cannot gather fellow believers for religious meetings. "I believe I have the right to preach God’s word in my own home."
THREATENED AND DETAINED
In Kazakstan, Protestant Nurbai Arystanov, who lives in the town of Arys, was reportedly even threatened and briefly detained on March 5 by police, who objected to the fact that he was distributing gifts from the Good Samaritan international charity.
Police, including Arys Deputy Police Chief Kurmanal Rakhmatulayev, were said to have "personally interrogated believers."
Meanwhile Pentecostals in Muinak in Uzbekistan’s western region of Karakalpakstan, fear that two church members, indentified as Kuralbai Asanbayev and Rashid Keulimjayev, may again face punishment, for meeting together as Christians.
BEATEN AND DENIED
Human rights activists say they were beaten about three months ago and imprisoned for five days for expressing their faith in Christ, charges local officials have denied.
The leader of the local Pentecostal community, Salavat Serikbayev, told F18 news "that Protestants in the town have virtually no way of meeting together." He said Christians "live like the first catacomb Christians under the Roman Empire."
In Russia’s Sakhalin region a recent regional press campaign of "sensational and accusative" articles targeting the Sakhalin-based Victory Chapel Pentecostal church was spearheaded by the local Orthodox bishop.
Church leaders and analysts have linked the tensions in several countries to fears among Orthodox churches and Muslim leaders to lose their influence in the post-Communist era, which saw a revival of non traditional groups and believes in the ex-Soviet Union.
