FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway http://www.forum18.org/

The right to believe, to worship and witness

The right to change one's belief or religion

The right to join together and express one's belief

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1 October 2009

AZERBAIJAN: POLICE CHIEF DEPORTS LOCAL-BORN BAPTIST - WITH NO DOCUMENTATION

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1357

Local Baptist Javid Shingarov (who holds a Russian passport) was cut off from his wife, father and children in his native village near Yalama in northern Azerbaijan when he was yesterday (30 September) deported to Russia. Yalama's police chief Gazanfar Huseinov - who punished him under the Administrative Code with a fine and deportation order for holding religious worship in his home - refused to tell Forum 18 News Service why he had refused to give his verdict in writing and why the Migration Service was apparently not involved. An official of the Human Rights Ombudsperson's office told Forum 18 that failure to give a verdict in writing is a violation of the law and that the Law on Migration puts responsibility for deportation decisions on the State Migration Service, not the police. The Christian books confiscated from Shingarov and others during raids on 9 September have not been returned, while a Baptist whose home was among those raided was pressured to resign from his job as a school director.

29 September 2009 KAZAKHSTAN: OFFICIALS WHO RAID RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES "MERELY FULFILLING THEIR DUTY" http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1355 Murad Ashkhayanov, an officer of the Police's Department for the Struggle with Terrorism in Semey, defended the police raid on the town's Ahmadi Muslim community in which he participated. However, he refused to tell Forum 18 News Service why the community was twice raided, and members asked when and why they joined the community and how their beliefs differ from those of other Muslims. Likewise officials who took part in raiding two Baptist churches in Kostanai Region rejected suggestions these were raids, despite police questioning of participants, filming against their wishes, searches of the premises and pressure to write statements. Talgat Nagumanov of the Kostanai Regional Justice Department told Forum 18 he and his colleagues "were merely fulfilling their duty". One of the pastors was today (29 September) fined the equivalent of two months' average wages locally "if you didn't spend anything on food or clothes for your family".

2 October 2009 RUSSIA: "YOU HAVE THE LAW, WE HAVE ORDERS" http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1358 Two Baptist preachers in Russia's Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad have been fined after their community "sang psalms and spoke about Christ" in the street, they have told Forum 18 News Service. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in the Kaliningrad police told Forum 18 that all public gatherings - whether political or religious - must be sanctioned by the municipal authorities in advance. "But they didn't have permission and they had no intention of getting it!" he remarked, clearly irritated by the Baptists' actions. Asked why permission is necessary, the source replied, "That's the law in Russia!" Aleksandr Legotin, one of the two Baptists, insisted that, as the Baptists held a religious service and not a demonstration, the legal requirement to notify the authorities in advance should not have applied. "We follow the law very carefully," he told Forum 18. "And under the Universal Declaration [of Human Rights] we have the right to freedom of conscience - the law should be doing the opposite, protecting us from such arbitrariness."

28 September 2009 TAJIKISTAN: "IT SEEMS THAT READING THE BIBLE TOGETHER IS NOW A CRIMINAL OFFENCE" http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1354 Hamzaali Pulodov, the religious affairs official in the northern town of Khujand, has defended the criminal cases against up to 17 Jehovah's Witnesses on charges of inciting inter-religious hatred, which carry a sentence of between five and nine years' imprisonment. "When people break the law they are prosecuted," he told Forum 18 News Service. He says books confiscated during a June raid on a flat where they were meeting had "propagandised against the Constitution and incited enmity between citizens", but admitted he has not read them. Prosecutors and the secret police refused to say how many Jehovah's Witnesses face criminal charges and when cases will go to court. Zafar Rakhimov, who is among those facing prosecution, told Forum 18 he believes two or three of their leaders will be brought to court. "Prosecutor Muzaffarov told me that the accusation is based on the fact that we interpret the Bible differently from Protestants. It seems that reading the Bible together is now a criminal offence." Jehovah's Witnesses are banned in Tajikistan.

30 September 2009 TURKMENISTAN: TWO MORE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS IMPRISONED http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1356 Two young Jehovah's Witnesses have joined two other Jehovah's Witnesses already incarcerated in the labour camp in Seydi after being sentenced in July for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of religious conscience, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 News Service. Shadurdi Ushotov, who is 21, received the maximum two-year term, while 19-year-old Akmurat Egendurdiev received an 18-month term. Both had their appeals rejected in their absence. Jehovah's Witnesses complain three of the four have been obstructed from lodging further appeals. Egendurdiev was tried after being summoned to Dashoguz town administration, where "three elderly men tried to persuade him to change his mind" about his refusal to serve in the army, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. Vyacheslav Kalataevsky, a former Baptist inmate of the Seydi camp, told Forum 18 it is in the desert and close to several chemical works, and conditions are not easy. "It is like something from the Middle Ages." * See full article below. *

30 September 2009 TURKMENISTAN: TWO MORE JEHOVAH'S WITNESS CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS IMPRISONED

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1356 By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>

Two young Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned in July for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of religious conscience have been transferred to the labour camp in the eastern town of Seydi, Jehovah's Witnesses have told Forum 18 News Service. The two - 21-year-old Shadurdi Ushotov and 19-year-old Akmurat Egendurdiev - were both sentenced in the northern town of Dashoguz [Dashhowuz]. The new sentences bring to four the number of Jehovah's Witnesses known to Forum 18 to be imprisoned for refusing military service, all now being held in the Seydi camp. Jehovah's Witnesses complain that three of the four have been obstructed from lodging further appeals. Two other Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors are serving non-custodial sentences.

Forum 18 understands that the two new conscientious objectors were sentenced under Article 219 Part 1 of the Criminal Code, which punishes refusal to serve in the armed forces with a maximum penalty of two years' imprisonment.

Jehovah's Witnesses call for those sentenced to be amnestied "so that they can return to their families". They call on the authorities to introduce a civilian alternative service to military service, adding that this would allow the young men to be useful to the country "without harming their conscience". "This would show the willingness of the Turkmen authorities to respect freedom of conscience," Jehovah's Witnesses maintained.

Jehovah's Witness young men insist they are ready to do alternative non-military service. However, Turkmenistan offers no non-combat alternative to those who cannot serve in the military on grounds of conscience.

Forum 18 was unable to find out on 30 September why those who cannot serve in the armed forces on grounds of religious conscience are still being imprisoned and why no moves appear to be underway to introduce an alternative civilian service. The man who answered the telephone of Nurmukhamed Gurbanov, a Deputy Chair of the government's Gengeshi (Council)

for Religious Affairs in the capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat], repeatedly hung up as soon as Forum 18 introduced itself.

Shirin Akhmedova, Director of the government's National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, and Shemshat Atajanova, a head of department there, were in a "big conference" and unavailable, officials told Forum 18. No other officials at the Institute were available.

Speaking at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva on 19 March, Akhmedova had rejected the recommendations from numerous international organisations - including the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief, Asma Jahangir - that Turkmenistan introduce a civilian alternative to compulsory military service. Akhmedova instead pointed to Article 37 of the Constitution, which describes defence as a "sacred duty" of everyone and then states that military service is compulsory for men (see F18News 20 April 2009 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1285>).

The two new conscientious objector prisoners

Ushotov was sentenced by Judge G. Muradova at Dashoguz town court on 13 July to two years' imprisonment, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. The prosecutor was Sh. Yeleyshova. They say he appealed against the judgment, but a panel of four judges at the town's Appeal Court, sitting in his absence apparently in August, rejected the appeal.

Ushotov's supporters prepared a further appeal to Turkmenistan's Supreme Court in Ashgabad and tried to meet him in prison in Dashoguz to gain his signature. However, they were told that on 13 July, three days after the original sentence, without waiting for the appeal, the authorities had transferred Ushotov to the Seydi labour camp. This made it impossible for him to file an appeal to the Supreme Court within the prescribed period.

Just over two weeks later, on 29 July, Egendurdiev was sentenced by Dashoguz town court to one and a half years' imprisonment. He had been summoned earlier in the month to the town khyakimlik (administration), where "three elderly men tried to persuade him to change his mind" about his refusal to serve in the army, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. "When they understood that he did not give in, a criminal case was opened and the case brought to court."

Egendurdiev's appeal too was heard in mid-August in his absence and was rejected. A further appeal was lodged at the Supreme Court, but this has not yet been heard. Egendurdiev too was transferred to the Seydi camp.

The address of Seydi Labour Camp is:

Turkmenistan,

746222 Lebap vilayet,

Seydi,

uchr. LB-K/12

Both Baptist and Jehovah's Witness prisoners of conscience have previously been held in the Seydi Camp. There have been indications that some of these prisoners were tortured in the camp with psychotropic [mind-altering] drugs (see eg. F18News 25 October 2004 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=438>).

Conditions in the Seydi Camp are harsh. "It is set in the desert and is close to several chemical works. Of course conditions are not easy. It is like something from the Middle Ages," Vyacheslav Kalataevsky, a Baptist who was imprisoned there in 2007 to punish him for his religious activity before being deported from Turkmenistan, told Forum 18 from Ukraine on 30 September (see F18News 3 July 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=986>).

Kalataevsky recalls that there were then some 3,500 prisoners in six or seven barracks in the camp. He said the temperature in the summer is close to being unbearably hot. He said prisoners under 50 year of age work ten hour days (with a lunch break) in the camp's industrial zone, in the brick factory, metalworking plant or clothing factory. He said food and water is adequate "though not wonderful".

He added that life is difficult for religious believers, especially if they discuss their faith with other prisoners. "There would be trouble from the administration and from other prisoners," he told Forum 18. He said he was not beaten there, but was often placed in the punishment isolation cell for "violations" which were fabricated by the administration.

Other sentenced Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors

The two other Jehovah's Witnesses currently serving terms of imprisonment for refusing military service - Sakhetmurad and Mukhammedmurad Annamamedov - are brothers. The two, who are from the town of Serdar (formerly Gyzylarbat) in western Turkmenistan, were originally sent to serve their sentences in the prison in the Caspian Sea port of Turkmenbashi [Türkmenbashy, formerly Krasnovodsk] before being transferred to the Seydi camp.

Tried at Serdar Town Court in November 2008, they were each given a two year suspended sentence. However, in May 2009 the same judge ruled that they should both be transferred to prison to serve the rest of their terms. They became the first Jehovah's Witnesses since July 2007 to be jailed for refusing military service on grounds of religious conscience (see F18News 2 June 2009 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1304>).

On 3 June the two brothers lodged appeals against the new sentences, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. The appeal hearing was scheduled for 23 June, but was then adjourned until 30 June after Judge Ahmed Agoyliev of Balkan Regional Court in Balkanabad (formerly Nebitdag) allowed their father, Yazmammed Annamamedov, to engage a lawyer to represent his two sons. However, no lawyer was willing to represent them, so their father had to do so himself. On 30 June Judge Agoyliev upheld the May decision.

Since their transfer to the Seydi labour camp, Yazmammed Annamamedov has been able to meet his two sons. However, he discovered that the verbal confirmation of the Prosecutor's Office in Turkmenbashi that the two men's appeals had reached the Supreme Court was "a lie", Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. "No one had given the two brothers the applications for signature as the father had been assured." They say Yazmammed Annamamedov is now preparing an appeal to the General Prosecutor's Office to allow more time to lodge the appeals.

Many Jehovah's Witness young men have been sentenced over the past fifteen years for refusing compulsory military service on grounds of religious faith. However, in the past few years most of the sentences have been suspended or have been sentences to forced labour, where individuals live at home and have 20 per cent of their wages taken by the state. The two other Jehovah's Witnesses serving sentences are:

Vladimir Golosenko, who is from the Caspian port city of Turkmenbashi, was sentenced under Article 219 Part 1 on 12 February 2008 to two years' forced labour. He is not in prison, but 20 percent of his wages go to the state (see F18News 31 July 2008 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1166>).

Zafar Abdullaev was given a two-year suspended sentence by a court in Dashoguz on 8 April 2009 for refusing compulsory military service. He is currently living at home (see F18News 20 April 2009 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1285>). (END)

For a personal commentary by a Protestant within Turkmenistan, on the fiction - despite government claims - of religious freedom in the country, and how religious communities and the international community should respond to this, see <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=728>.

For a personal commentary by another Turkmen Protestant, arguing that "without freedom to meet for worship it is impossible to claim that we have freedom of religion or belief," see <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1128>.

More reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Turkmenistan can be found at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&religion=all&country=32>.

For more background information see Forum 18's religious freedom survey of Turkmenistan at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1167>.

A compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments can be found at <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1351>.

A printer-friendly map of Turkmenistan is available at <http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=turkme>. (END)

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