Turkmenistan: crackdown on Christians.(Persecution Report)

Vyacheslav Kalataevsky, a Baptist church leader from the city of Turkmenbashi on the Caspian Sea, was arrested on March 12, 2007, by Turkmenistan's secret police. Two days later he was charged with illegally crossing the border in 2001. This spring he was sentenced to three years in a labor camp, according to Forum 18 News.

Kalataevsky, who holds a Ukranian passport, was deported to Kazakhstan in 2001, when the government exiled many foreign citizens who were active in religion. The original decision stated that he was being deported for "violating the law of Turkmenistan on religious organization by establishing a prayer house and by organizing Baptist meetings." …