Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07TASHKENT1546
2007-08-28 10:54:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Tashkent
Cable title:  

LAST REGISTERED JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CONGREGATION

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KIRF UZ 
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VZCZCXRO2011
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHNT #1546/01 2401054
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 281054Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY TASHKENT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8386
INFO RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 3234
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 9397
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 3847
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 3710
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TASHKENT 001546 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF UZ
SUBJECT: LAST REGISTERED JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CONGREGATION
THREATENED

REF: A. TASHKENT 1197

B. TASHKENT 709

C. TASHKENT 1300

Classified By: CDA BRAD HANSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TASHKENT 001546

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2017
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF UZ
SUBJECT: LAST REGISTERED JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CONGREGATION
THREATENED

REF: A. TASHKENT 1197

B. TASHKENT 709

C. TASHKENT 1300

Classified By: CDA BRAD HANSON FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D).


1. (C) Summary: The Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) AmCit General
Counsel told poloff on August 17 that authorities may be
planning to deregister the congregation in Chirchik, the last
remaining legal JW congregation in Uzbekistan. The Chirchik
congregation recently received a second warning letter from
the Tashkent Region Justice Department, which accuses the
congregation of failing to provide documentation of its
meetings and sending its members to preach in villages
outside of Chirchik. In addition, the General Counsel
provided poloff with a list of recent unsuccessful attempts
by JW congregations to register throughout Uzbekistan and
relayed to him a veiled threat made by the Acting Chairman of
the Religious Affairs Committee on June 22. Furthermore, on
August 14, the Samarkand Regional Criminal Court rejected the
appeal of Dilafruz Arziyeva, who had been sentenced to two
years corrective labor for illegally teaching religion.
International observers, including poloff and the AmCit
General Counsel, were denied entry to the appeal hearing. On
a brighter note, Arziyeva's local lawyer said that the
Government was planning to announce its annual amnesty
shortly, and he had reason to believe that Irfan Hamidov,
another JW congregant who was sentenced two years at a labor
camp, might be included on the list. If authorities continue
to criminally prosecute JW congregants or deregister the
congregation in Chirchik, it will become increasingly
difficult for the Government to argue that it is making
progress on religious freedom in Uzbekistan. End summary

SECOND WARNING FOR JEHOVAH CONGREGATION IN CHIRCHIK
-------------- -


2. (C) On August 17, AmCit Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) General
Counsel told poloff that authorities may be planning to
deregister the congregation in Chirchik, the last remaining
registered JW congregation in Uzbekistan. According to the
General Counsel, the congregation in Chirchik received a
second warning letter dated August 13 from the Tashkent

Region Justice Department. The letter accuses the
congregation of failing to provide required documentation of
its meetings and sending its members to conduct unsanctioned
preaching in villages outside of Chirchik. In response to
the allegations, the General Counsel said that individuals
from the congregation may have visited the villages, but that
any such action was not sanctioned by the congregation
itself.


3. (C) The General Counsel said that he was surprised to
receive the second warning, as he described having a positive
meeting with the Tashkent Region Justice Department Head
Hamdambek Rasulov on August 10. The congregation also
submitted the requested documentation after receiving a first
warning letter from the Justice Ministry on July 12. The
General Counsel is worried that the second warning might
portend the deregistration of the Chirchik congregation, the
only congregation still registered in Uzbekistan, as the
JW's Ferghana City congregation was deregistered last year
after receiving two warnings. If the Chirchik congregation
was to lose its registration, all JW activity in Uzbekistan
would effectively become illegal.

CONTINUED REGISTRATION DENIALS FOR OTHER CONGREGATIONS
-------------- --------------


4. (C) In addition to the Chirchik and Ferghana City
congregations, the only JW congregations to have ever been
registered, there are dozens of other JW congregations that
remain unregistered despite repeated attempts to do so. The
General Counsel provided poloff with a list of recent
attempts by JW congregations to register. In 2007,
applications for registration from the Tashkent and Ferghana
City congregations were rejected, and an application from the
Jizzak congregation did not receive a response. In 2006, an
application from the Kagan (Bukhara province) congregation
was rejected, and an application from the Angren congregation
did not receive a response. Despite the repeated denials,
the General Counsel said that Jehovah's Witnesses respect the
laws of Uzbekistan and will continue to apply for
registration until they are successful.

WARNING FROM ACTING RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN
-------------- --------------

TASHKENT 00001546 002 OF 003




5. (C) The General Counsel told poloff that during a meeting
with Acting Religious Affairs Committee Chairman Ortiq
Yusupov on June 22, he was warned that Jehovah's Witnesses
were engaging in proselytism, which is against the law in
Uzbekistan. Yusupov reportedly said that he had received
complaints from citizens about Jehovah's Witnesses pushing
their religion on others and that he was required to
investigate such complaints. The General Counsel interpreted
Yusupov's words as a veiled threat that the Government was
considering deregistering the JW's Chirchik congregation.


ARZIYEVA SENTENCE UPHELD IN SAMARKAND
--------------


6. (C) On August 14, the Samarkand Regional Criminal Court
rejected the appeal of Dilafruz Arziyeva, who was convicted
on June 6 of illegally teaching religion and sentenced to two
years corrective labor. In her appeal, Arziyeva alleged that
the trial judge had falsified witness testimony in the court
record. The General Counsel provided poloff with a letter
from the witness whose testimony was allegedly altered. In
the letter, the witness states that she renounced in open
court her written statement that Arziyeva had shared
religious materials with her, declaring that she was
pressured to sign the statement by investigators. She also
denied again in the letter that Arziyeva had shared religious
material with her. According to the General Counsel, after
the trial, the judge removed the witnesses' verbal testimony
from the court record and replaced it with the written
statement.


7. (C) After waiting five hours for the appeal to begin,
poloff and the AmCit JW General Counsel were asked to leave
the courtroom by the Chief Judge, who, citing a 2005
declaration of the Supreme Court, said that foreign citizens
are not allowed to observe trials without written permission
from the Supreme Court. When informed that poloff had sent a
dip note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs requesting
authorization to monitor the hearing, the Chief Judge
responded that Uzbekistan's courts were independent and
outside observers were unnecessary. During a meeting at the
MFA on August 2, poloff was told by the U.S. Affairs Section
Chief that such requests could take over a month to process,
even though in this case, Arziyeva's appeal was scheduled
only a few weeks in advance.


8. (C) After the appeal, Arziyeva's local lawyer told poloff
that the judges did not appear to take the allegations
seriously and one of them was even falling asleep during the
hearing. According to the local lawyer, during his
summation, the Prosecutor admitted that JW religious material
was harmless and questioned why the congregants could not
read it at home instead of sharing it with the public. At
the same time, however, the Prosecutor accused the JW
community of having ulterior motives and serving as a front
for an unexplained underground movement.


9. (C) On August 17, the General Counsel said that the next
step for Arziyeva is to submit a "supervisory protest" to
either the Chair of the Samarkand Regional Criminal Court or
directly to the Supreme Court. He was unsure when Arziyeva's
sentence would become enforceable. Before her appeal to the
Samarkand Regional Criminal Court, Arziyeva received a notice
to surrender herself to the police despite the fact that,
under Uzbek law, a sentence is not enforceable while an
appeal is pending. Now that Arziyeva's appeal has been
rejected, though, she may have to start serving her sentence.
The General Counsel explained that a supervisory protest was
akin to a discretionary appeal in the United States, and the
Samarkand Regional Criminal Court or the Supreme Court could
decline to hear it. The General Counsel also was considering
appealing to the UN Human Rights Committee.


10. (C) Earlier on June 21, the Samarkand Regional Criminal
Court also rejected the appeal of Irfan Hamidov, another
member of the JW's Samarkand congregation who was convicted
of teaching religion illegally on May 14 and sentenced to two
years at a labor camp. Following his conviction, according
to fellow church members, Hamidov was severely beaten in
detention. Hamidov, like Arziyeva, appealed the conviction
on the basis that the judge had falsified witness testimony
in the court record. Poloff and the AmCit General Counsel
also were not allowed in the courtroom during Hamidov's
appeal (ref A). After his appeal was rejected, Hamidov began
serving his two-year sentence at a labor colony near

TASHKENT 00001546 003 OF 003


Samarkand. On August 17, the General Counsel told poloff
that he recently visited Hamidov at the labor camp. He was
in good health and did not report being mistreated.

AMNESTY FOR HAMIDOV?
--------------


11. (C) On August 17, JW General Counsel also told poloff
that, according to Arziyeva's local defense lawyer, the
government was preparing to announce an amnesty on August 20.
The defense lawyer was hopeful that the amnesty might
include Hamidov, since the prosecutor at his trial called for
a reduced sentence and he has been labeled a model prisoner
by labor camp authorities. As of August 28, the Government
still had not announced an amnesty, although one is
occasionally declared shortly before Uzbekistan's national
holiday on September 1.

COMMENT
--------------


12. (C) The continued ordeal of JW congregations in
Uzbekistan is lamentable, especially considering their
repeated attempts to conform to Uzbekistan's particularly
stringent registration requirements. The Jehovah's Witnesses
are one of the few Christian groups which continues to apply
for registration every year despite continual denials.
Earlier in the year, the Government appeared to have adopted
a softer approach towards the congregations. For example,
Jehovah's Witnesses encountered far less harassment during
memorial services commemorating Jesus' death on April 2 than
in the past two years. (Ref B). After positive meetings in
June between Government officials and Ambassador-at-Large for
Religious Freedom John Hanford, it was hoped that the
Government may eventually relax their registration laws and
demonstrate greater tolerance towards religious minorities
like the Jehovah Witnesses (ref C). However, with the
criminal convictions of Arziyeva and Hamidov and renewed
threats to revoke the registration of the last remaining
legal JW congregation in Uzbekistan, it now appears that the
authorities have reverted towards a more hard-line stance
towards the Jehovah's Witnesses. If authorities continue to
criminally prosecute JW congregants or deregister their
congregation in Chirchik, it will become increasingly
difficult for the Government to argue that it is making
progress on religious freedom in Uzbekistan.
HANSON