"Corrective Labour" for Teaching Doctrine in Uzbekistan
by Staff
December 11, 2007
(christiansunite.com) - According to a November 30 report from Forum 18, the leader of a small, unregistered Baptist church in Khalkabad, Uzbekistan, Nikolai Zulfikarov, has been sentenced to two years of "correctional labour." He was ordered to pay twenty percent of all of his earnings for the next two years as a fine. Zulfikarov was convicted of "teaching religious doctrines without special religious education and without permission from a central organ of administration of a religious organisation, as well as teaching religion privately."
Zulfikarov had hosted worship services in his house for the small church consisting of only five adult members. It is yet unknown if he will appeal the sentence.
Pray for wisdom, strength and provision for Nikolai during this time. Pray for members of this church and others in Uzbekistan facing oppression from authorities.
For more information on the persecution of Christians in Uzbekistan, go to www.persecution.net/country/uzbekistan.htm. A new video report on the family of another Uzbek Pastor sentenced to labour camp, Dmitry Shestakov, is available on VOMC's multimedia website, www.persecution.tv.
