Uzbekistan: “All talk about the Constitution and democracy is hypocrisy”
ICC Note:
“Uzbekistan continues to harass the officially registered Bible Society,” Forum 18 News Service reports.
By Mushfig Bayram
2/28/2011 Uzbekistan (Forum 18 News Service) – Uzbekistan continues to harass the officially registered Bible Society, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Officials have forced its General Assembly took take place in the open air, after warning churches not to host the meeting. New Bible Society Director Aleksey Voskresenkiy has left his teaching position at the Tashkent Protestant Seminary under pressure from the state Religious Affairs Committee. State officials have also told Bible Society officials that “it is not necessary to import Bibles into Uzbekistan since there is an electronic version of the Bible on Internet and this is enough”. Bible Society members have complained to Forum 18 that the authorities “are determined to stop import of Bibles in the national languages, and to stop distribution of the Bible in the country. We can see that all talk about the Constitution and democracy in Uzbekistan is hypocrisy”. Officials have refused to discuss the issue with Forum 18.
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