A report from Keston News Service says that a group of Christians in the village of Deinau, in the east of Turkmenistan, have been forced to publicly renounce their faith. They were summoned by the local political police and forced to swear an oath renouncing the Bible and their faith in Jesus. Three Christians who refused to comply were expelled from the village and are now subject to a manhunt ordered by the political police in the capital, Ashgabad.
According to Keston, the summons came after a package addressed to one of the Christians in the village was opened at the post office and found to contain a Christian magazine. This was reported to the local political police (KNB), who then summoned all the known Christians in the village and demanded that they renounce their faith. The three Christians who refused to do so had the gas and electricity to their homes cut off and were then expelled from the village, even though all three were registered as residents there. On receipt of a report on their expulsion the KNB headquarters in the capital issued instructions that the three Christians should be seized and that the local KNB should "take measures" against them. The three Christians are reported to be in hiding at unknown locations.
Turkmenistan has the most repressive religious policy of all the former Soviet republics. Only communities of the state-sanctioned Muslim Board and the Russian Orthodox Church have been recognized by the state. All other religious groups are treated as being illegal. This has resulted in the past in non-Russian Orthodox Christians being fined, imprisoned, beaten and deported. Places of worship have been destroyed, while private homes used for worship have been confiscated. (Source: Keston News Service)