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Secret police in Uzbekistan raided Full Gospel Church in Andijan during a Sunday service on 21 January and took Pastor Dmitry Shestakov, 37, into custody. He is still in detention and will apparently be charged with “incitement of national, racial and religious enmity” under Article 156 of Uzbekistan’s penal code. If convicted, he could be sentenced to five years in prison.
In June 2006 a state prosecutor verbally accused him of high treason. No formal charges were filed at that time, but his wife and three daughters have been in hiding ever since.
According to a lawyer who gave Shestakov legal advice last year, the pastor has also been charged under Article 244-1 for the “illegal manufacture and spread of literature which rouses dissension between religions.”
. . .
In an October 2006 interview obtained by Compass, Pastor Shestakov described how authorities began to harass him in May 2006, apparently in reaction to the conversion to Christianity of some ethnic Uzbeks.“Uzbeks started coming to faith [in his church], and this was not good news to the authorities,” one Tashkent source told Compass.
In June 2006, police raided the pastor’s house, temporarily detaining Shestakov and confiscating videos of his sermons. Although the pastor was ordered to list all of his church members, he refused to do so.
“It was clear that the National State Security were going to find something to charge me with and remove me from my position as a Christian pastor,” Shestakov said in the interview.
This courageous man, his family, and his congregation need prayer.
Last November, the United States added Uzbekistan to its list of Countries of Particular Concern for its “abysmal record on religious freedom and other human rights.” Uzbekistan was also named one of four focus countries for last year’s International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.
h/t: Voice of the Martyrs Canada
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