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A criminal court in Uzbekistan has convicted Protestant pastor Dmitry Shestakov of illegal religious activity and sentenced him to four years’ exile within the country. He maintained his innocence throughout and told the court he forgives his accusers and persecutors. The exact location of his exile has not yet been announced.
The pastor’s friends reported numerous irregularities and inconsistencies in the proceedings. Audio tapes of Shestakov’s sermons were analysed by a professor from Andijan University, but a ministerial decree specifies that such analyses must be conducted by officials of the government's Religious Affairs Committee.
His friends also refute another of the prosecutor's accusations - that Shestakov conducted religious services on property that did not belong to a registered religious organisation. They cite a notarised document from December 2003 recording the house where services were held as the property of the registered Andijan Full Gospel church. They also point to an October 2004 Full Gospel document authorising Shestakov to lead services at the property.Shestakov's friends also complain that, given that the criminal case against him was launched on 10 June 2006, his charge under Article 156 part 1 was illegally changed to Article 156 part 2, a provision that was introduced into the Criminal Code only twelve days later and which does not have retroactive force.
No one from the prosecutor’s office or the Religious Affairs Committee would comment on the case.
Several further incidents of official harassment of Protestant churches in Uzbekistan have been reported. Secret police with video cameras entered the Sunday, 25 February service at a Pentecostal church in Qarshi. After filming the service, police sealed the church doors and detained all the worshippers for interrogation in separate rooms. Names and addresses were recorded, and Bibles and other Christian literature seized.
Members were threatened with charges for illegal religious activity, but as yet none have been filed.
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