Protestant Church Ordered to Close

(Forum 18) – Officials of the government’s religious affairs committee have claimed that the Sonmin Grace church in the northern town of Khujand has been ordered closed for violating the law, but have refused to explain their decision to Forum 18 News Service. Yet committee official Madhakim Pustiev admitted: “The activity of the church had annoyed Muslims and some of them asked for the Khujand branch of the church to be closed.” Preacher Alisher Haidarov said the church is still open at the moment. “The most absurd thing is that we cannot even understand what specific legal violations we are accused of. Our church has existed in Khujand for 11 years and we have never broken any laws,” he told Forum 18. The religion committee chairman has called for local authorities to supervise closely the activities of religious organisations.