Legislation blocks registration— KARSHI, Uzbekistan—Criminal cases instigated against two of Jehovah’s Witnesses are under way in the city of Karshi, a few hours southwest of Tashkent. Bakhrom Pulatov and Feruza Mamatova were charged with violating the law regarding religious organizations. Their “crime” included having failed to register their religious group, having organized meetings, and having participated in missionary activity. Mr. Sharipov, who will appear as an expert for the Committee for Religious Affairs in Uzbekistan, has been asked to testify in court on August 24. On August 10, Azymzhon Klychev of Navoi, another one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, was found guilty, not of the original charges, but instead of breaking the law on the prescribed manner of religious instruction. Jehovah’s Witnesses are registered in many countries throughout Europe. However, in Uzbekistan they face a unique challenge. It is fundamentally impossible for them to comply with the law on religious organizations. For registration, the law requires a minimum of 100 members of a religious community in any one city. That requirement is greater than the number of Witnesses presently in the cities concerned, and any activity to bring the number up to 100 is illegal. By the restrictions in it, that law is in conflict with Uzbekistan’s international human rights commitments. The individuals being tried have thus been unfairly charged with illegal religious activity, and as a consequence, they have been fined unreasonable amounts of money, sometimes as much as 50 to 100 times the minimum wage. In addition, other individual Witnesses have since been charged. The U.S. Embassy in Tashkent requested of Gregory Olds, Associate General Counsel for Jehovah’s Witnesses, that it be “informed immediately” as to the outcome of the criminal trials in Karshi. Freedom of religion has been increasingly violated by the Uzbek authorities. Last year, there were some 238 documented cases of Jehovah’s Witnesses having been arrested or fined, with some suffering beatings. In March 2005, the Police and National Security Service planned and coordinated raids on religious meetings of Jehovah’s Witnesses in private homes, resulting in mass arrests throughout Uzbekistan. A series of administrative court cases were instigated against those in attendance. Special Rapporteur Abdelfattah Amor included in his January 2004 UN Report that “with regard to the difficulties encountered by Jehovah’s Witnesses, the [Uzbek] government replies that the latter belonged to an unregistered religious organization and points out that, in several of the cases mentioned by the Special Rapporteur, members of this community had received fines and prison sentences for offering illegal religious instruction . . . .” (E/CN.4/2004/63) Media Contact in Russia: Matthew Kelly, telephone:
|
Printable Version
