Physically assaulted by police

Galina Shemetova, a female member of an officially registered Baptist Church, gave a children's Bible in the summer 2010 to one of her work colleagues at the Tashkent Metro. She was subsequently charged under the Code of Administrative Offences' Article 240 Part 2 ("Attracting believers of one confession to another (proselytism) and other missionary activity"). The existence of this "offence" breaks the international human rights standards Uzbekistan has formally committed itself to implement.

On 1 April Shemetova was leaving a Tashkent hospital after medical treatment, for which she had been granted sick leave from her work. Then, in the sight of medical personnel, "police officer Vadim Kim of the Metro Police struck Shemetova on the head, and dragged her by her hair into a police car", a person who wished to remain anonymous for fear of state reprisals told Forum 18 on 14 April.

Officer Kim categorically denied to Forum 18 on 14 April that he had done anything wrong. "She is a provocateur. In fact, she was yelling and calling for help for nothing", he claimed. "She was hiding from the police for one week pretending to be ill, and we needed to bring her to the court." Asked what Shemetova had done wrong, Kim replied that "she is a missionary and violated the law". He then hung up the phone.

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