MINELRES: F18News Summary: Russia; Turkmenistan; Uzbekistan
MINELRES moderator
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Sun Jun 6 17:39:23 2004
Original sender: Forum 18 <[email protected]>
FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
http://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
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1 June 2004
RUSSIA: LOCAL RESTRICTIONS ON MISSION IN SAKHALIN REGION
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=331
Local religious believers in Sakhalin region sometimes face state
restrictions on sharing their faith, Forum 18 News Service has found.
Pentecostals have been banned from showing the 'Jesus Film', and have
also
encountered local state bans on open-air evangelism, whilst the
Jehovah's
Witnesses have faced obstacles in distributing their literature. One
official told Forum 18 that unregistered religious groups "can meet in
private flats but not attract other people or disturb those around
them."
Full article:
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=331
1 June 2004
RUSSIA: LOCAL RESTRICTIONS ON MISSION IN KHABAROVSK REGION
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=332
In the Far Eastern Russian region of Khabarovsk, religious believers can
encounter state restrictions in sharing their faith, but to a lesser
extent
than in neighbouring Sakhalin region, Forum 18 News Service has found.
Pentecostals, for example, have told Forum 18 of restrictions on
missionary
activity beyond the location where their church is registered, whilst
Baptists have spoken of having to obtain permission for street
evangelism
concerts. Interviewed by Forum 18 about access to prisons and hospitals,
the regional state religious affairs official commented that religious
activity in state institutions is determined by each individual
institution, which by now is well aware whether or not the religious
representatives coming to them are "sound".
3 June 2004
TURKMENISTAN: ADVENTISTS GET STATE REGISTRATION, BAHAI'S MAY BE NEXT
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=333
Seventh Day Adventists have confirmed that, on Monday 1 June, they were
given state registration, the first religious group to be registered
under
the new state registration rules, and Bahai's are likely to be confirmed
later today (3 June) as the next group to be registered. Other religious
groups have expressed cautious optimism that they too may be registered,
however, the state registration changes do not affect groups which
refuse
registration on principle, such as the "initiativniki" Baptists.
Unregistered religious activity remains, against international law, a de
facto criminal offence, and it remains unclear how far newly-registered
religious groups will be permitted to operate without being persecuted,
or
without the imposition of the heavy state control imposed on Sunni
Muslims
and the Russian Orthodox Church, the only groups to be state registered
before 1 June.
4 June 2004
UZBEKISTAN: AUTHORITIES NOW BEHAVING "AS BADLY AS USUAL" AFTER
POST-BOMBING
CRACKDOWN
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=334
Mass arrests of religious believers of all faiths, following the
March/April terrorist bombs, have now virtually ceased, and Forum 18
News
Service has been told by Protestants, Hare Krishna devotees and
Jehovah's
Witnesses that the authorities are now behaving "as badly as usual".
However, over 100 people are still in custody in southern Uzbekistan,
apparently for being "faithful Muslims" and several prominent Muslims
appear to have been singled out by the authorities for repression in the
crackdown.
For more background information see Forum 18's latest religious freedom
survey at
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=116
A printer-friendly map of Russia is available at
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?
Parent=europe&Rootmap=russi
(END)
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