a Baptist in Uzbekistan received ten days imprisonment, for hosting a Christian meeting in his home, reports said Thursday November 21.
He was apparently led away, November 19, directly from the courtroom to a local prison. "Nikulin…is now serving this sentence" Judge Kurban Nurmatov told the Keston News Service (KNS).
Baptist Nikolai Nikulin, was sentenced on charges that he "illegally" held a gathering of people in his flat in the central Uzbek town of Navoi without registration, said KNS, which is in close contact with persecuted Christians.
HOME RAIDED
Nikulin’s church belongs to the International Council of Churches Evangelical Christians/Baptists, which rejects registration saying that registration leads to unacceptable state interference in church life.
Local Baptists reported that the church that met in Nikulin’s home consisted of just seven people, but under Uzbek law, unregistered religious activity is illegal.
It is seen as the main reason why police raided Nikulin’s flat several times, threatening the Baptists and taking away religious books "for expertise". Major S. Mukhameddinov, working on the struggle with banditry and terrorism, apparently told the Baptists that the books would be destroyed.
PRAYERS
The Baptists have called for prayer and appeals on behalf of the "illegally sentenced Nikulin" and urged the authorities to return the confiscated literature, as well as "not to obstruct the meeting of this small group," KNS reported.
It comes amid concern that the former Soviet secret service, the KGB, and related networks are once again following active Christian movements in the former Soviet Union.
Human rights groups have reported incidents similar to those in Uzbekistan in several former Soviet republics such as Belarus, which saw this month the official introduction of what critics call Europe’s most repressive anti-religion law.
