Sharofat Allamova, a Protestant from Urgench in north-western Uzbekistan, has been sentenced to one and a half years hard labor after being found guilty of charges of "illegal production, storage, import or distribution of religious literature". The judge in the case, Makhmud Makhmudov, declined to comment to Forum 18 News Service.
Allamova will be placed in a low-paid government job and her salary will be further reduced by having to pay 20 percent of it back to the state while she serves her sentence. She will only be able to travel within Uzbekistan with written permission from the state and is prohibited from leaving the country.
It has been suggested that the NSS secret police persuaded witnesses to give false testimony against Allamova. In another case, some Protestants in Tashkent have been fined for meeting in a private home and possessing Christian literature, and for possessing a Bible and the New Testament. Local Baptists point out that these fines are not allowed under Uzbek law.
Source: Forum 18 News, which the Danish European Mission is co-founder and involved in the management of.