DUSHANBE, January 29, 20010, Asia-Plus  -- Of 81 religious groups and organizations functioning in Tajikistan, 71 have been able to reregister by January 1, 2010, Asia-Plus has learned at the Department for Religious Affairs (DRA) at the Ministry of Culture (MoC).

We will recall that under the new law on religions adopted in March 2009, all religious groups and organizations should be reregistered with a MoC by January 1, 2010.

“All religious organizations that filed their properly prepared documents in time were reregistered with the ministry,” the source said, noting that nine other religious groups were not reregistered because they failed to submit documents for re-registration by January 1, 2010.

In the meantime, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on January 27 that the Jewish congregation in Dushanbe, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon church), several Baptist churches, and the International Preaching House failed to file papers by January 1 and have been declared.

RFE/RL’s Tajik Service says that according to official statistics, there were 247 grand mosques and 2,969 daily-prayer mosques registered in Tajikistan by January 1.