In Depth:  www.forum18.org

Full state censorship of all religious literature published, distributed or photocopied in Kyrgyzstan, or imported into the country, as well as a ban on sharing beliefs in public – particularly from door to door – could become law after 1 June.

Proposed amendments to the 2009 Religion Law are due to have their first reading in the Zhogorku Kenesh (Parliament) in the capital Bishkek.

A Protestant pastor has become the first person to be deported under anti-terror laws which introduced sanctions against ‘foreigners conducting missionary activity’, it was reported in early March.

Pastor Victor-Immanuel Mani has been separated from his Russian wife and young child. He is appealing the deportation.

It was reported in June that Muslim imams have interfered in funerals conducted by Protestant Christians in two villages in the Jalal-Abad region of Kyrgyzstan.

In one case an imam blocked the burial of a Christian woman and forced her grieving husband to convert to Islam in order to get her buried.