Prayer Alert - Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan
AUTHORITIES ARRESTS: pastor in Uzbekistan (No. 11 on World Watch List)
NEW LAW WOULD SEVERELY LIMIT: religious freedom in Kazakhstan
WIN EMERGENCY PRAYER ALERT
Intercessors are urgently needed as intense persecution of Christians in two Central Asian nations is rising.
Uzbekistan’s religious authorities admitted publicly that an Uzbek Christian pastor was arrested on January 21, 2007 in the eastern city of Andijan and now faces criminal charges.
“Dmitry Shestakov, who calls himself a pastor and heads an illegal religious organization which operated in the Andijan region, has been arrested,” the press service of Uzbekistan’s Religious Affairs Committee told the Russian Interfax news agency on February 12, 2007.
Denying reports that Shestakov was an evangelical pastor affiliated with the legally registered Full Gospel Church, the press service claimed he was not an authorized leader of any officially recognized religious organization in Uzbekistan, ranked No. 11 on the World Watch List.
According to the 2007 Open Doors International’s World Watch List, Uzbekistan was one of the countries where the situation for Christians deteriorated in the past year.
The Uzbek government agency said Shestakov was an “imposter” leading an underground group identified as “Charismatic Pentecostals,” who were engaged in “missionary and proselytizing activities under Shestakov’s leadership.”
But according to Shestakov’s lawyer, a church document proves that the pastor has been authorized to conduct official worship services in the Full Gospel Church since October 5, 2004.
Shestakov, 37, was arrested in a raid on his registered Full Gospel Church in Andijan during Sunday worship services. He was kept incommunicado for the next two weeks, denied any contact with his lawyer, family or church members.
In an official indictment filed against Shestakov by Andijan prosecutors on January 30, 2007, the pastor was charged with operating an illegal religious organization, inciting religious hatred and distributing materials promoting religious extremism. If convicted on these criminal charges, he faces maximum sentences from five to 10 years in prison for e ach separate offense.
According to a report from the Russian newspaper Pravda, the 37-year-old Shestakov is being accused of “converting Muslims to Christianity.”
Andijan prosecutors had subjected him to previous harassment in June 2006, when secret police raided his home and church building, temporarily detaining him and confiscating tapes, videos and printed literature.
The crackdown was an apparent reaction to ethnic Uzbeks converting to Christianity through Shestakov’s ministry. His 100-member congregation in Andijan worships in both the Russian and Uzbek languages. In these services, according to his wife, Marina, whole families have become Christians, people have been healed of epilepsy and several home groups have formed.
But after verbal warnings that serious criminal charges were about to be filed against him, Shestakov fled Andijan last summer with his wife and three children to avoid arrest. After a few months they returned and by late November Shestakov resumed his open ministry in the church.
Uzbek authorities have been particularly repressive of all religious activities in Andijan after a May 2005 uprising there, in which hundreds of protestors were killed by government troops.
After the U.S. State Department added Uzbekistan to its religious freedom “blacklist” on November 2006 as a Country of Particular Concern, the country’s Foreign Affairs Ministry declared it was “perplexed” by such an “unfounded” rating.
Elsewhere in Central Asia, Kazakhstan plans to even more severely restrict religious freedom. In July 2005, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev issued legal amendments that further restricted religious freedom in Kazakhstan, a mainly Islamic country.
According to a draft of a new Religion Law, all unregistered religious activity would be banned, and registered religious communities with fewer than 50 members would be banned from publishing or importing religious literature, maintaining open places of worship or conducting charitable activity.
The secret police are also planning separate restrictions on religious freedom via the Anti-terrorism Law.
Meanwhile, two Baptist congregations—one with state registration and the other a branch of a state-registered congregation—and a Pentecostal congregation in North Kazakhstan Region are among the latest victims of Kazakhstan’s crackdown on religious.
Apparently known as Operation Religious Extremism, the latest crackdown has been conducted by the regional police Department for Combating Extremism, Separatism and Terrorism. This crackdown follows in the wake of Kazakh government plans to pass the new Religion Law in April.
Pray for:
• The release of Pastor Dmitry Shestakov from Andijan, Uzbekistan, who has been arrested and falsely accused of operating an illegal religious organization, inciting religious hatred and distributing materials promoting religious extremism. He could face up to five years in prison if convicted. Pray for God to show Himself strong to Shestakov’s wife and three daughters.
• Freedom of religion to be allowed in Uzbekistan.
• Churches such as Shestakov’s congregation to continue to grow and stand strong in faith despite intense persecution.
• The proposed Religion Law in Kazakhstan to be defeated. Pray that the secret police’s Anti-terrorism Law will fail passage. Please pray for God to intervene.
• The Kazakhstan government to revise the nation’s law so citizens can enjoy true religious freedom. Pray that all Kazakhstan government attempts to inhibit religious freedom would completely fail and the Church would multiply and flourish.
• The encouragement and protection of all Christians in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and all other countries in Central Asia.
• A revival to sweep through all of the former Soviet Central Asian republics, reshaping the governments, and bringing spiritual transformation to all citizens of these countries.
Sources: Compass Direct News, International Christian Concern, Open Doors, Forum 18 News Service
Summary:
Intercessors are urgently needed to stand in the gap for two Central Asian nations where persecution of Christians is intensifying. Uzbekistan’s religious authorities admitted publicly that an Uzbek Christian pastor was arrested on January 21, 2007 in the eastern city of Andijan and now faces criminal charges, which could result five years in prison if he is convicted. Elsewhere, Kazakhstan plans to even more severely restrict religious freedom. In July 2005, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev issued legal amendments that further restricted religious freedom in Kazakhstan, a mainly Islamic country. According to a draft of a new Religion Law to be considered in April, all unregistered religious activity would be banned, and registered religious communities with fewer than 50 members would be banned from publishing or importing religious literature, maintaining open places of worship or conducting charitable activity.
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