By Mushfig Bayram, Forum 18 News Service, which the Danish European Mission is co-founder and involved in the management of.
After two searches of her home in Urgench in northern Uzbekistan in January, Protestant Sharofat Allamova is now facing prosecution for "illegally" storing religious literature. The charges against her are punishable by a fine of up to 100 times the minimum wage or imprisonment for up to three years. Elsewhere in Uzbekistan, religious communities and individuals continue to be penalized for keeping or bringing their religious books and meeting peacefully for worship.
Protestants in Tashkent say they are outraged and angry about a judge's order to destroy Bibles. They are especially angry that the sentence was handed down on December 24, 2012, just as Christians were about to start celebrating Christmas. The judge who fined four Protestants in the same case has already punished many local believers for exercising their right to religious freedom.
The start of the case
Twice in January 2013, police in Urgench searched the home of Protestant Sharofat Allamova. The police confiscated Christian literature from her home and filed a case against her under Article 244-3 of the Criminal Code. This section prohibits "illegal production, storage, import and distribution of religious literature". The penalty is a fine of between 20 and 100 times the minimum wage or three years in prison if the accused has previously been administratively convicted of the same offense. In Uzbekistan, all religious literature of any kind is under strict state censorship. Police opened the case against Allamova because she already had a previous administrative conviction within a year for the same offense.
Harassed by the authorities
Allamova has been subjected to harassment by the authorities for a long time. In June 2004, she was interrogated and threatened by the National Security Service and was detained for four days in June 2007 after Christian books and movies were found in her bag on the night bus. Her home was searched, Christian literature was confiscated and she was given a six-month suspended prison sentence.
In May 2010, she was fined 10 times the minimum wage for being in possession of religious literature. The judge ordered that the three books and three DVDs found in her home be permanently confiscated. Allamova appealed the verdict, arguing that among the 272 violations of legal procedures, she had not pleaded guilty as stated in the verdict, and she had also been denied legal assistance. But the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict.
First search
The first search of Allamova's home took place on January 4, 2013 and was led by Police Chief Shukhrat Masharipov. On the same day at 11:30 am, she was asked to appear before the local Mahalla Committee, where she was detained by the police. Mahalla committees are the lowest level of administrative authority and among their many tasks is the restriction of religious freedom.
The police questioned Allamova about her exercise of religious freedom for about an hour and then took her home. The police then conducted an unauthorized - and therefore illegal - search of her home. They confiscated three books, two DVDs containing a Christian movie and sermon, and a videotape entitled "Life in the Church".
At 14:00 she was taken to the police station in Urgench where she was interrogated by an officer named Zhavlon. He put "psychological pressure" on her and said that if she did not write a confession, she would be arrested and charged under the criminal code. After 11 hours of detention, she was eventually released.
Second search
12 days later, on January 16 at around 5 pm, seven police officers, again led by Police Chief Masharipov, and now also accompanied by Police Inspector M. Shamuradov, broke into Allamov's home. This time they produced a search warrant authorized by Police Prosecutor Magsudbek Ollaberganov. The police also brought the chairman of the Mahalla Committee and his secretary. However, the police did not find any religious materials in Allamova's home.
Banned books?
On January 29, the police sent the "banned" religious books for "expert analysis" and handed the case over to the court. They would not comment on which books are banned in Uzbekistan. Such expert analysis is routinely used by the authorities as an excuse to confiscate whatever books they want.
The police refused to say why they continue to pressure and punish Allamova, nor would they answer whether they want her to stop practicing her Christian faith or reading Christian books.
Large fines
On December 24, Judge Ikrom Obidov of the Bostanlyk District Criminal Court in the Tashkent region fined four Protestants for leading a religious meeting of about 80 fellow believers. The four church members, Gennady Chen, Vladimir Zhikhar, Aleksandr Lokshev and Gennady Timoyev were each fined 50 times the monthly minimum wage, which is approximately 11,200 DKK.
They were convicted under Article 240 of the Administrative Code, which prohibits "Carrying out unauthorized religious activity, evasion of leaders of religious organizations from registering the organization's charter, organization and performance of worship by religious leaders, also holding special children and youth meetings, as well as professional, literary or other study groups not directly related to worship". The penalties are fines of between 50 and 100 times the monthly minimum wage or administrative imprisonment for up to 15 days.
The fines for the four Protestants came after a police raid on a group of about 80 Protestants who were on vacation together. Four of them were charged with 6 different offenses under the administrative law for meeting and discussing their faith and singing Christian songs. Police confiscated three Bibles and 100 Christian songbooks, insulted the group and took their fingerprints. Worship is only allowed in registered places specifically designated for the purpose.
Judge Obidov claims in his ruling that the police have established that the four Protestants "held a religious meeting for 60 citizens". He also claimed, without giving details, that the confiscated literature could be used for missionary purposes.
Article 5 of the Religion Law states that: "Actions aimed at attracting believers from one denomination to another (proselytism) are prohibited, as are other missionary activities". The same is stated in Article 240 of the Administrative Law, under which the four were convicted.
Order for the destruction of Bibles in the run-up to Christmas
In the same ruling, the judge also ordered that the two confiscated Bibles, three notebooks with religious notes and another Christian book be destroyed. This is despite the Bible having been officially approved by Uzbekistan's Committee for Religious Affairs.
It is not uncommon for courts to order religious literature to be confiscated and destroyed, affecting both Muslim and Christian books as well as Jehovah's Witness books. This is preceded by an "expert analysis" by the Committee for Religious Affairs, which labels the books as "harmful", "extremist" or "illegal".
Appel
The four Protestants have appealed the case and the hearing will take place on the morning of February 4. They have not paid the fines yet in the hope that the sentence will be overturned. However, similar previous appeals against convictions by the same judge have been rejected.
Fabricated case
Protestors who have followed the case complain that Judge Miralimov, who rejected an appeal earlier this year, ignored strong evidence presented in court that the case was fabricated. Among other things, the witnesses were fictitious people, and one of them was even on the police list of wanted criminals. Furthermore, the person translating into Russian in court was not a trained interpreter.
Source: Forum 18 News Service
