Church members said Solijonov was beaten in the face and chest. "This was done not just by the boss but by his subordinates too," Solijonov later reported. When fellow Baptists complained to Motboev about the way Solijonov had been treated, Motboev told them he feared no one and that they could complain to whomever they liked.
Church members said that their Sunday worship service was again raided on 5 August. Zulfikarov, who had been away on 29 July, was present during the 5 August raid. "Afraid that all our written statements would be used against us, we refused to sign anything," church members wrote in a complaint to Uzbek president Islam Karimov. "But we were taken to the police station and forced to write statements after being subjected to moral pressure for six hours."
Church members complained that police officers ignored their protestations that the right to refuse to write statements is enshrined in the Criminal Procedure Code. When the Baptists told Motboev that they could not go against their conscience, they quote Motboev as responding: "I spit on your conscience." They say he swore at Zulfikarov. Motboev told the Baptists they were "state criminals" and threatened to hand them over to the National Security Service secret police.
The Khalkabad congregation belongs to the Council of Churches Baptists, who refuse on principle to register with the authorities in any of the former Soviet republics where they operate. They maintain that such registration leads to unwarranted state interference in their internal activities. "We don't feel the need to receive legal status," the Khalkabad congregation wrote in their complaint to President Karimov.
In November 2006 police raided the Khalkabad congregation. Zulfikarov was fined 12,420 Soms (US$10) under Article 241 of the Administrative Code. This punishes those "failing to observe the correct procedure for teaching religious beliefs". The court also ruled that Christian literature confiscated from church members was "extremist" and ordered that it be destroyed.
Amid an earlier period of heightened pressure in autumn 2003, five church members - including Zulfikarov and Solijonov - were each sentenced to ten days' imprisonment. They had to pay the costs of their own imprisonment. Three other church members were fined.
Also threatened with a criminal case was Mikhail Goryachev, a member of the Council of Churches congregation in Tashkent. Local Baptists told Forum 18 that prosecutors prepared a case against him under Article 216-2, Part 1 of the Criminal Code, which punishes "violation of the law on religious organisations". However, by late July it appeared that the charges had been dropped, despite contradictory messages from the prosecutor's office and the court in Tashkent's Khamza District.
[Source: Felix Corley, Forum 18]
For more information please visit: www.forum18.org
