JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES REPORT POSITIVE MEETING WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 TASHKENT 001764

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2017
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KIRF UZ TI
SUBJECT: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES REPORT POSITIVE MEETING WITH
RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

REF: A. TASHKENT 1546

B. TASHKENT 1197

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Classified By: POLOFF R. FITZMAURICE FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D)


1. (C) Summary: During a conversation with the Ambassador on
September 28, Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) AmCit General Counsel
noted having a "constructive" meeting that week with Acting
Religious Affairs Committee Chairman Ortiq Yusupov, who
reportedly assured him that deregistration for the last
remaining legal JW congregation in Chirchiq remained "off the
table." On a less positive note, Yusupov reportedly told the
General Counsel that no more JW congregations will be
registered in Uzbekistan for the near future, and the General
Counsel said that several members of a congregation were
arrested in Bukhara after applying for registration. Another
two shipments of JW literature were also reportedly detained
in Bukhara province en route from Germany to Tajikistan.
Though the news about the Chirchiq congregation is most
welcome, it also reveals the role that Tashkent plays in
making decisions on registration that are ostensibly made at
the local level. End summary.

DEREGISTRATION OF CHIRCHIQ CONGREGATION "OFF THE TABLE"
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2. (C) During a courtesy call with the Ambassador on
September 28, Jehovah's Witnesses (JW) AmCit General Counsel
noted having a "constructive" meeting that week with Acting
Religious Affairs Committee Chairman Ortiq Yusupov, who
reportedly assured him that the deregistration of the last
legal JW congregation in Chirchiq is still "off the table."
Earlier in August, the General Counsel told poloff that
authorities had sent a second warning letter to the Chirchiq
congregation, accusing its members of proselytizing, and
expressed concern that the Chirchiq congregation could soon
be deregistered, which would automatically make all JW
activity in Uzbekistan illegal (ref A).


3. (C) During a separate September 25 meeting with poloff,
the General Counsel explained that upon closer examination,
the second letter received by the Chirchiq congregation from
the Tashkent provincial Ministry of Justice was not an
official warning letter. Thus, by his count, the
congregation has so far only received one warning letter
(Note: The JW congregation in Ferghana City, the only other
JW congregation to have been registered in Uzbekistan, lost
its registration last year shortly after receiving a second
warning letter. End note.)


4. (C) On a less positive note, Yusupov reportedly told the
General Counsel that no further JW congregations will be
registered in Uzbekistan for the near future, even though
officially, the Religious Affairs Committee has no control
over whether officials at the local level accept a
congregation's application for registration or not.

BUKHARA CONGREGANTS DETAINED FOR APPLYING FOR REGISTRATION
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5. (C) On September 25, the General Counsel told poloff that
nine members of the Kagan JW congregation in Bukhara province
were arrested in early August and briefly detained by local
officials. None of the congregants were abused. During
their interrogation, the deputy police chief reportedly told
one of the congregants that they had been arrested for
applying for registration. The congregation's application
for registration had been formally denied on July 25.
Although the General Counsel did not want to publicize the
incident, he said that it was being taken very seriously, as
it was the first time that JW congregants were allegedly
punished for attempting to follow Uzbek law. When the
General Counsel informed Yusupov about the case, he
reportedly became angry at the local officials and promised
to investigate what had occurred.


6. (C) While refraining from going into detail, the General
Counsel told the Ambassador that hundreds of JW congregants
have been convicted of administrative offences, which usually
result in a fine or short period of detention. The General
Counsel said that the Jehovah Witnesses do not have the
resources to publicize all such incidents, and therefore,

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they focus on the few cases involving much more serious
criminal charges.


7. (SBU) In a written statement on Uzbekistan recently
presented at the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation
Meeting (HDIM) in Warsaw, the European JW Association stated
that the police and National Security Service (NSS) have
raided homes of Jehovah's Witnesses, confiscated religious
literature, and physically and verbally abused Witnesses who
were simply attending peaceful religious meetings in private
homes. It also notes that there are over 1,100 documented
cases of Witnesses having been arrested, detained, fined or
beaten, with 700 of those occurring during annual religious
observances of Jesus' death in 2005 and 2006.

FERGHANA HOKIMIYAT: FIND A NEW (LESS CONSPICUOUS) BUILDING
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8. (C) On September 25, local JW representative Sergei
Artyushkov (strictly protect) told poloff about a relatively
cordial meeting he had recently with Ferghana City Deputy
Hokim (mayor) Rano Karimova, who reportedly told him that the
JW's application to register a legal address for their house
of worship was rejected because the building, which is
located on one of Ferghana City's busiest streets, is "too
centrally located and conspicuous." Karimova reportedly was
concerned that President Karimov could drive pass the house
during an official visit to Ferghana City. According to
Artyushkov, Karimova hinted that the congregation should try
to register a less centrally located building as their
official address (Note: The JW are trying to reregister
their Ferghana City congregation, and applying for a legal
address is one of the first steps towards registration. End
note.) Artyushkov reported that Karimova appeared to be a
more reasonable interlocutor than most other local officials
he had met.

SECOND HAMIDOV APPEAL DENIED
--------------


9. (C) On September 25, the General Counsel told poloff that
the second appeal of Irfan Hamidov, who was convicted in May
for illegally teaching religion and sentenced to two years
imprisonment at a labor colony (ref B),was rejected by the
Samarkand Provincial Criminal Court on September 21. The JW
next plan to appeal to the Supreme Court, and if that course
of action also fails, they will then consider approaching the
UN Human Rights Committee. The General Counsel stressed that
the Jehovah's Witnesses would first exhaust all legal
remedies in Uzbekistan and that approaching the UN was only a
last resort, a point he also reportedly stressed with
Chairman Yusupov.


10. (C) In their written statement to the OSCE HDIM, the
European JW Association reported that Hamidov was badly
beaten on three occasions at the Samarkand Pre-Trial
Detention Center by Investigator Rasulov, who reportedly
demanded details about other JW congregants in Samarkand. On
one occasion, the beating reportedly lasted an hour, and
Hamidov's attorney later saw the bruises on various parts of
his body. During a meeting with poloff on September 25, the
General Counsel said that JW congregants had recently visited
Hamidov at the labor camp near Samarkand, and he appeared to
be treated well.


11. (C) The General Counsel also reported to poloff that
Dilafruz Arziyeva, who was convicted of teaching religion
illegally and sentenced to two years of corrective labor in
June (ref A),has not had to start serving her sentence yet.
The Jehovah Witnesses plan on lodging a second appeal on her
behalf with the Samarkand Regional Criminal Court.

TWO SHIPMENTS OF LITERATURE NOW DETAINED
--------------


12. (SBU) According to the statement for the OSCE HDIM, in
August 2006, Tashkent Customs detained a shipment of 500
Russian Bibles and 500 copies of the book "What Does the
Bible Really Teach?" in Russian that was sent to Uzbekistan
by Jehovah's Witnesses in Germany. In October 2006, the
Committee for Religious Affairs sent the JW a letter
explaining that the shipment was detained because they did

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not see the need for so many books, as the JW only have one
registered congregation in Uzbekistan. The CRA offered the
JW the choice of: 1) returning the shipment to Germany; 2)
rerouting the shipment to Kazakhstan; or 3) destroying the
literature. Although the JW quickly replied that the
shipment should be rerouted to Kazakhstan, the literature is
still detained in Uzbekistan. In January 2007, DCM Baktiyor
Ibragimov of the Uzbek Embassy in Washington informed JW
representatives that Foreign Minister Norov had consented to
the release of the literature. However, local JW
representatives in Uzbekistan were later asked to pay
approximately 6,000 dollars in storage fees to the customs
service before the literature would be released.


13. (C) During his meeting with Yusupov, the General Counsel
reportedly requested that the detained literature be
recognized as a humanitarian gift, which would obviate the
necessity of paying storage fees. According to the General
Counsel, Yusupov said that the suggestion would be
considered.


14. (C) After the meeting with the Ambassador on September
28, the General Counsel told poloff about two rail shipments
of JW literature en route from Germany to Tajikistan that
were detained by local Uzbek custom authorities in Bukhara
province. The General Counsel reported visiting the State
Customs Committee, where he received the names of officials
that he would try to contact via fax to resolve the problem.
He had not raised the issue with the MFA or Yusupov.

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


15. (C) Yusupov's assertion that that the GOU is not
considering deregistration of the Chirchiq congregation is
welcome news, although his comment that no more JW
congregations will be registered in Uzbekistan underscores
how decisions on registration ostensibly made at the local
level are really determined in Tashkent. We would also note
that the problems Jehovah's Witnesses face today in
Uzbekistan are nearly identical to those four years ago (when
current P/E Chief served as Human Rights Officer). If
anything, the Jehovah's Witnesses appear to be in a slightly
worse situation now. What was clear from the General
Counsel's meeting with the Ambassador was that the Jehovah's
Witnesses intend to pursue every legal avenue available to
them under Uzbek law to demonstrate that how the GOU treats
Jehovah's Witnesses is a violation of Uzbekistan's own
Constitution.
NORLAND