Turkmenistan Security Forces Raid Bible Class
A Protestant church in Turkmenistan faced a tense Pentecostal weekend Saturday, May 10, nearly a month after authorities raided its Bible class held in a private flat in the capital Ashgabat, religious rights investigators said.
BosNewsLife reports "Some ten officials from the local Religious Affairs Department, the police, secret police, Justice Ministry and Tax Ministry" raided the Bible class from the Greater Grace Protestant church on April 11, said Forum 18, a Norway-based human rights group.
Pastor Vladimir Tolmachev reportedly said he was warned that the church was not allowed to teach its own members without permission from the government's Religious Affairs Committee. Officials allegedly told Tolmachev he would receive an official warning.
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