Turkmenistan - Worship without state registration 'illegal'

Turkmenistan: February 01, 2010, (PCTV Newsdesk)

Turkmenistan continues to raid Protestants meeting for worship in differentparts of the country, Forum 18 news Service has learnt. One such raid wasled by Turkmenistan's former Chief Mufti, Rovshen Allaberdiev, who is nowimam of Dashoguz Region as well as being the senior regional Gengeshi(Council) for Religious Affairs official. Allaberdiev and accompanyingofficials confiscated Christian books during the raid, including personalBibles. All 22 people present were taken to a local government building,questioned and pressured to sign statements not to attend the church infuture. "Some people signed and now some are afraid to come to services,especially new people," one church member told Forum 18. "We were told itis illegal to meet without state registration. But we told them we havealready applied for registration and are waiting for a response." In aseparate raid in another region, police accused a pastor of violating theReligion Law by praying at a birthday party.

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