Meanwhile, members of the registered Full Gospel congregation in Yangiyul, near Tashkent, have failed to persuade the Prosecutor's Office to open a criminal  investigation into the actions of police officers who raided their Sunday worship service on May 13, Protestant sources told Forum 18. The Yangiyul town Prosecutor, Abdugany Naibiev, rejected the attempt, writing on June 13 that that there was, as he put it, "the absence in the actions of the police representatives of the substance of a crime."

Church members complain that the raid, conducted by six police officers and led by S. Norov of the Anti-Terrorist Department, was "illegal." They say they were filmed without their permission and that the police officers swore at them and threatened them with violence. They add that the church's pastor, Vyacheslav Bely, was threatened with criminal charges as, the police claimed, the church was involved in "preparing terrorists." In the wake of the raid, church members made written complaints to various government agencies.

An official of the Yangiyul Prosecutor's Office told Forum 18 on June 26 that Naibiev was no longer in the office, but said Furhat Azhizov had been handling the case. However, Azhizov's assistant, who would not give his name, said he had no information. "I know there was a complaint, but I don't have the details," he told Forum 18. Asked why a group of religious believers was raided during a service, the assistant declined to respond. "I don't have the right to give information by telephone."

Protestants also remain under pressure in the Karakalpakstan [Qoraqalpoghiston] autonomous republic in north-western Uzbekistan, where all non-Muslim and non-Russian Orthodox religious activity is banned. The trial began on June 11 in Nukus, the region's capital, of Zlikha Ordobayeva, Protestant sources have told Forum 18. She was accused of "illegally teaching religion" after police raided a gathering of Protestants at a private home in Nukus at Easter. (The same charge was earlier made against Pentecostal Christian Salavat Serikbayev). The prosecutor has demanded a fine of 50,000 Sums (235 Norwegian Kroner, 29 Euros or 40 US Dollars).

As Ordobayeva was in bed and too ill to come to court, the judges decided to hold the hearing in her home. Four court officials arrived to hold the first hearing. "She was on trial for teaching religion although she is illiterate," one source told Forum 18. "She can hardly string more than a few words together. The judge could see that but stated that he would follow the decision the Prosecutor's Office has already taken. The local
policeman testified that she was teaching when they raided the gathering."

On June 15 the court gave Ordobayeva an official verbal warning. The trials of a number of other local Protestants held after the same raid are due to continue.

Protestant Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses have been the religious communities that have faced the brunt of official pressure so far in 2007. Their congregations across Uzbekistan have been raided, and individual believers have been beaten, threatened, fined and imprisoned.

The most severe sentences so far imposed in 2007 have been: four years in a labor camp for Pentecostal pastor Dmitry Shestakov; two years in a labour camp for Jehovah's Witness Irfon Hamidov; two years corrective labour for Jehovah's Witness Dilafruz Arziyeva; and one year corrective labour, with a fine of 20 per cent of his salary, for Pentecostal Christian Salavat Serikbayev.