A/57/274 15. The Special Rapporteur also expressed his concern at the process for the re-registration of religious groups. 16. By letter dated 26 April 2002, Azerbaijan responded, inter alia: “The Sumgait community of Baptist Christians has not provided the additional documents required for its official registration since its incomplete filing on 27 December 2001. “Rauf Gurbanov, Anna Gurbanova and Taïssia Kuznetsova, who are members of this community, nevertheless pursued their religious activities. Arrested on 2 February 2002 while distributing Christian publications to the population, they were charged with the unlawful exercise of a religious activity and then released. The confiscated publications were returned, no complaint or claim was filed against the police and the medical examination they underwent showed no sign of their being ill-treated. As to Rauf Akifogly Gurbanov, the investigation revealed nothing to corroborate the statements alleging that he had been insulted and had suffered physical violence. During the questioning, Rauf Gurbanov and the other members of the community said that they had not been subjected to any unlawful act or harassment when exercising their religious activity.” Bangladesh 17. On 19 April 2002, the Special Rapporteur informed the Government of Bangladesh that he had received reports alleging that, since the elections in October 2001, religious minorities, especially the Hindus, had been the victims of repeated attacks. These attacks, said to have been carried out by members of the Bangladeshi Nationalist Party and Jamaat-e-Islami, have reportedly caused the deaths of dozens of people. More than 100 Hindu girls are said to have been abducted and/or raped, including Putul Rani Das, Alo Rani Das and Mrs. Tramoni. According to the reported information, hundreds of families were expelled from their land and found refuge in India, and numerous attacks have been made against Hindu temples, including in Sirajdikhan, Dewangonj, Akkhaura, Betagi, Fattulah and Sirajganj. 18. The following persons are said to have been killed: Gopal Krishna Muhuri; Sunil Das Sandhu; Habibur Rahman Kazi; Khorshed; Suvash; Abdul Mannan; Abdul Kashem; Sha Alam; Ansar; Mahir; Lokman; Shariatullah; Hemayet Uddin; Mokbul Ahmed; Azim; Mozahar; Shafiullah; Habibur Rahman; Monir Hossain; Farid; Zakir Hossain; Rabiul Islam; Moslemuddin; Hossain Ali Shuman; Monzer Ali Kalu; Nur Mohammad Mallik; Enayet Sikder; Abdul Alim; Masud; Bahar; Babu; Tajul Islam; Faruk Ahmed; Ramij Salam; Mohammad Yasin; Kalu; Abdul Malek; Liton Ahmed; Abdul Kalam; Shaheen; Noresh Chandra Das; Luftor Nessae; Mohammad Yusuf; Nurunnabi; Mukter Hossain. 19. The casualties are said to include: Anil Gomes; Gagon Rojario; Shibnath Kirtania; Banalatha Kirtania; Charulatha Kirtania; Nipun Kirthania; Nikhil Kirthania; Sandhya Rani; Santosh; Dr. Subodh; Sanjib; Binod Das; Atul Majumder; Dalim; Usha Rani; Ranjit; Gopal Chakraaborty; Shibu Dsash Mohanta. 20. It is further alleged that in the majority of cases no steps were taken to protect the citizens and the victims were threatened with reprisals if they filed a complaint. The police is said to have been informed of the incidents and to have taken no action to find the guilty parties and bring them to justice. China 21. The Special Rapporteur sent two communications to the Government of China with respect to the action taken against the members of Falun Gong and the sentences received by members of the Protestant South China Church. 22. Since 1999, 361 members of Falun Gong are said to have died in detention, 80 of them as a result of torture between October 2001 and January 2002, including: Li Began, Wu Jingxia, Li Jingdong, Liu Chunshu, Zhan Wei, Cui Dezhe, Tong Guji, Chen Biyu and Chai Yong. It is alleged that approximately 100,000 practitioners of Falun Gong have been detained and more than 20,000 have been sent to forced labour camps without any trial. Persons recently imprisoned are said to include: Xiong Wei, Teng Chunyan and Zhang Kunlun. 23. On 29 December 2001, five members of the South China Church, Gong Shengliang, Li Ying, Xu Fuming, Hu Yong and Gong Bangkun, were reportedly given death sentences by the Intermediate People’s Court in Jingmen city for “using an evil sect to harm the implementation of the law”. During the same trial, 5