An assistant pastor and two other members of one of Uzbekistan capital's largest Protestant churches began serving 15-day jail terms Wednesday, May 19, on charges that included "violating" strict religious regulations of the former Soviet nation, trial observers said.
Three other Protestants of the Church of Christ in Tashkent were each fined 80 times the minimum monthly wage, and two other Protestants were fined five times the minimum monthly salary, said well-informed advocacy group Forum 18.
Additionally, Judge S. Asharmatov at Tashkent's Mirzo-Ulugbek District Court ordered that six computers taken during this week's police raid on the church be given to the state while seized Christian literature must be destroyed, Christians explained.
