UZBEKISTAN: Raids, religious literature seizures, passport confiscations and expulsions

Uzbekistan's authorities continue to raid peaceful religious or non-religious activity by religious believers, confiscate all religious literature - even including Bibles and New Testaments - from private homes, collect information on members of both registered and unregistered communities, as well as punish them, Forum 18 News Service notes. Even personal notebooks with notes of religious teachings were confiscated, worship services, sports activity and summer holidays disrupted, and even visiting foreigners in one case were expelled from Uzbekistan.

In mid-August in the central Navoi Region, 11 Police officers and other officials raided a Baptist family as they and friends were meeting for worship. They confiscated the religious literature found in their and another church member's homes. They also expelled two visiting co-believers back to Russia and the mother, who is not a Church member, visiting from Israel. Administrative punishments are being prepared for the three local Baptists.

In early August in Chirchik in Tashkent Region, 15 police officers and officials of a variety of agencies raided the home of a Protestant pastor, while he, his son and their friends were playing volleyball. The pastor's religious books and other property were confiscated. All except the Pastor and his son were taken to the Police Station, kept there for more than four hours, questioned and released. It is believed that administrative punishments are being prepared against at least the Pastor and his son.

Elsewhere in the north-western Khorezm Region, police "fabricated" a case against a local Protestant, and in early June a regional Court fined him allegedly for sharing his Christian faith with his relative and one other person, in that relative's home