Four years after being severely pressured by the authorities, the small Baptist congregation in Khalkabad near Pap in the eastern Namangan Region is again facing harassment for meeting without compulsory registration.
Local Baptists told Forum 18 News Service that police raided successive Sunday services on 29 July and 5 August. In the wake of the raids, church member Nikolai Zulfikarov - who hosts services in his home - could face criminal trial with a possible sentence of up to five years' imprisonment.
They also told the news agency that a case was launched against Zulfikarov under Article 216 of the Criminal Code, which punishes "illegal organisation of a social or religious organisation".
Cases are also being prepared against others present at the services, as well as Baptists from the city of Fergana who travelled to Pap to try to find out why cases were being brought forward.
It is not clear if these cases are under the Criminal Code or the Code of Administrative Offences.
"The authorities wanted to sentence Nikolai Zulfikarov immediately, but after church members complained the process stopped," one Baptist who preferred not to be identified told Forum 18. "There's now total silence, but it is not clear if this means they will abandon the attempt or if they are moving stealthily behind the scenes."
The head of the Pap District Criminal Investigation Department, Abdumalik Motboev, is leading the investigation into Zulfikarov and four other church members. The official who answered Motboev's telephone on 23 August, but declined to give his name, confirmed to Forum 18 that a criminal case has been launched against Zulfikarov. However, the official said he did not know the details of the case.
"All I know is that they didn't have any documents authorising them to hold such events," he told the news agency. When told that the Council of Churches Baptists - to which the congregation belongs - reject registration on principle, the official responded: "That's their problem." He referred all further enquiries to Motboev. However, Motboev was not in the office on 23 and 24 August and his mobile phone went unanswered.
The Baptists maintain that the pressure on the congregation was instigated by the deputy hokim (administration chief) for Pap District, Abdukadyr Nazarov. However, he too was not in his office at the Hokimat when Forum 18 called on 23 and 24 August, and his mobile phone went unanswered.
The threat to prosecute Zulfikarov comes as Makset Djabbarbergenov, a Pentecostal from Nukus in the north-western region of Karakalpakstan, also faces criminal charges to punish him for his religious activity. Another Pentecostal, Dmitry Shestakov, is serving a four year labour camp sentence.
Two Jehovah's Witnesses, Irfon Khamidov and Dilafruz Arziyeva, have already been sentenced this year for "illegally teaching religion" and Uzbekistan's last registered Jehovah's Witness congregation is threatened with losing its legal status. If this happens, all activity by the entire community will - under Uzbekistan's highly restrictive Religion Law - become illegal.
