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Uzbekistan: Ten year sentence for "honest Christian"

Uzbekistan has sentenced a Baptist to 10 years in jail on drugs charges, which his fellow Baptists insist are fabricated, Forum 18 News Service has learnt.

Seven weeks after his arrest, Tohar Haydarov was sentenced in Guliston on 9 March for "illegal sale of narcotic or psychotropic substances in large quantities". Fellow Baptists insist that this is to punish him for his religious activity. It is unclear why Haydarov has been given such a harsh sentence.

The only known current Christian prisoner of conscience, Pentecostal Pastor Dmitry Shestakov, is serving a four year sentence. Baptists insist that police planted drugs on Haydarov at the time of his arrest, and according to church members he is "a man with a pure conscience and an honest Christian".

Forum 18 has spoken to several Baptists in Syrdarya and Tashkent who strongly support Haydarov. The judge and police officers involved have refused to discuss the case with Forum 18, and Haydarov has appealed against his sentence.

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TAGS: Uzbekistan persecution drugs charges Tohar Haydarov false charges

[03/14/2010]

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