TURKMENISTAN: FOUR JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ADHERENTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 000993 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL, IRF E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/30/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: FOUR JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ADHERENTS BEATEN AND INTERROGATED IN BALKANABAT Classified By: Charge Sylvia Reed Curran for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Senior Jehovah's Witness representative Andrei Zhbanov confirmed to poloff July 30 that a police raid on the apartment of a Jehovah's Witness adherent in Balkanabat had taken place on May 6. As also reported in a press release issued by the religious organization's headquarters in New York, local police and possibly MNB personnel broke into the apartment where four Jehovah's Witnesses were staying and interrogated and beat each person as they arrived home. Zhbanov said that three of the individuals were visiting the primary occupant of the apartment and permanently reside in other provincial towns. ¶2. (C) Three unidentified officials, who the men came to believe were MNB officers, interrogated each of the individuals about their activities and beat each of them on the head, abdomen and legs, in part with a belt. The four individuals were then taken to an unidentified detention facility. They were beaten again, interrogated, and officers attempted to force them to say "I am a Muslim." Ultimately, the four all provided written and signed narratives regarding their detention and the confiscation of their belongings, including a personal computer, documents, and money. They all signed statements denying any grievance against the police, as well as a statement providing basic details regarding the activities of the Jehovah's Witnesses and paid fines amounting to $88 each. ¶3. (C) The men were then moved to the Atamurat District police station, where they spent the night in detention without charge. After a city court fined the four men, they were released. Zhbanov said the men took photographs of their injuries caused by the beatings and sent them to the Jehovah's Witnesses' offices in New York. ¶4. (C) Zhbanov said that in spite of this and other cases of harassment this year, in August, the Jehovah's Witnesses plan to submit an application and relevant documents for the group's registration to the Council on Religious Affairs. This is the first time they have attempted registration in two years. The organization's previous application was rejected based on a series of grammatical errors, and an administrator at the Council had verbally told Zhbanov that the organization would have had a better chance of registration if it had dropped its policy of conscientious objection to compulsory military service. ¶5. (C) COMMENT: Historically, Jehovah's Witness adherents here have probably experienced more frequent and severe harassment than most unregistered groups. Suspicion and dislike for the organization appears to extend beyond standard cultural biases, possibly due to its practice of open proselytizing. This case in particular may have come about as a result of a tip-off to local authorities that the primary apartment resident was hosting three men from other towns. END COMMENT. CURRAN