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Forum 18: KYRGYZSTAN: Violent attacks continue in 2022 and into 2023

Violent attacks against non-Muslims in regions outside the capital Bishkek have continued in 2022 and into 2023, local Protestants told Forum 18. Officials refused to explain why perpetrators are not prosecuted and punished, and what is being done to stop such attacks. When such attacks happen, Protestants stated, "local believers are afraid to complain to the authorities" as "they are afraid of reprisals from the authorities and local mobs for complaining". "These are only isolated cases," Kanatbek Midin uuly of the State Commission for Religious Affairs claimed. ....

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Forum 18: KAZAKHSTAN: Religious censorship at border

For the first known time since February 2020, courts in 2022 fined five individuals several weeks average wages for trying to import religious literature. Border guards seized the books at Shymkent Airport and at a border crossing from Uzbekistan. A Shymkent Airport border guard insisted that his service had not imposed the two literature seizures at the airport and subsequent fines. "We didn t confiscate any books, we just took them away and handed them on to the police to be examined," he said. ....

Kazakhstan General , Nurlan Atalykov , Nurgali Kabylov , Pyotr Shelepanov , Fakhriddin Khasanov , Apiza Ysmayil , Andrei Snezhnevsky , Nugman Babazhanov , Nurlan Nyshanov , Nurali Bekturov , Dauran Alimov , Guliza Mamyrova , Beimbet Manetov , Sagi Bainiyazov , Shukurillo Azadbekov , Kunanbai Musayev , Felix Corley , Davide Mauro , Polat Bekzhan , Anuar Khatiyev , Tabligh Jamaat , Un Committee , Telegram Forum , United Nations Human Rights Committee , Regional Religious Affairs Department , Life Church ,

Forum 18: BELARUS: Greek Catholic website among religious works banned as "extremist"

A Greek Catholic website and a YouTube interview with a Catholic priest are the latest religious items banned by courts as "extremist" and added to the Information Ministry s "Republican List of Extremist Materials". Deputy Information Minister Igor Buzovsky, who is also Deputy Chair of the "Republican Expert Commission for the Evaluation of Symbols, Attributes, and Information Products for the presence (or absence) in them of signs of Extremism", defended such bans. "This is done exclusively on the basis of the law," he insisted. ....

Vitsyebskaya Voblasts , Belarus General , Andrei Aryayev , Ihar Baranovsky , Vyacheslav Barok , Sergei Nikolaenko , Yelena Kovalchuk , Igor Buzovsky , Igor Kondratiev , Elmir Kuliyev , Dionisy Korostelev , Olga Bondareva , Nikita Melkozerov , Andrei Nozdrin , Aleksandr Rumak , Viktar Vedzen Catholic , Veniamin Tupeko , Orsha District Court , Central District Court , Frunze District Court , Telegram Forum , Plenipotentiary Office , Crime Police , Uniate Church , Information Ministry Republican List Of Extremist Materials , Facebook Forum ,

Forum 18: BELARUS: Polish priest forced to leave after 25 years

After his last Mass in Grodno s Holy Redeemer Church on 27 December, Polish citizen Fr Jozef Geza left Belarus after 25 years service. Religious affairs official Aleksandr Rumak rejected his bishop’s request to extend the permission which foreign citizens need to conduct religious work. Rumak "won t comment" on his decision, his colleague Andrei Aryayev said. Last July, Rumak refused the latest request for permission for Fr Klemens Werth. A Russian citizen, he can therefore serve only in an administrative role in Vitebsk diocese. ....

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Forum 18: AZERBAIJAN: Two women fined for religious work with children

A Baku court fined Shola Jafarova two months average wage for holding mourning meetings in the Muslim holy month of Muharram and organising children to sing a mourning song uploaded to social media. A Goychay court similarly fined Samira Jafarova for a social media video with 15 children performing a lamentation for Imam Hussain (the third Imam of Shia Islam). She told her appeal hearing that "holding a religious ceremony is her right arising from the Constitution", but the court rejected her appeal. ....

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