In Uzbekistan, Pavel Peichev, head of the Baptist Union, and two colleagues each face up to three years in prison on charges of tax fraud and teaching Christianity to children against their and their parents' will at a Baptist camp on August 27, 2009. The three denied the charges.
One of the defendants, Dmitri Pitirimov, said that a religious organization is exempt from paying taxes. As the director of the Happy Kids camp, he maintained that the two parents named in the indictment who testified against them knew "perfectly well" that they were sending their children to a Baptist camp where they would be taught the Bible. The parents signed papers to confirm their children's attendance. The date of the trial has not yet been announced.
