TURKMENISTAN: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES' WOES CONTINUE

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASHGABAT 001446 SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN; DRL/IRF E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/09/2019 TAGS: KIRF PHUM PGOV SOCI TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES' WOES CONTINUE REF: ASHGABAT 0738 Classified By: Charge Sylvia Reed Curran, Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Four Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors are currently in prison. Their families will exhaust all means of appeal, after which the Jehovah's Witnesses will bring the cases to international fora for further attention. Harassment of Jehovah's Witnesses has increased in recent months, and some individuals, particularly those known to authorities for their proselytizing, have been detained and threatened. Authorities seem especially interested in stopping the spread of Jehovah's Witnesses' literature, although church leaders are confident that the increasing use of computers and digital formats will insure that their materials are plentiful. The leaders could not explain the recent up-tick in harassment, except to suggest that Turkmen authorities are following the Russians' example. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) At a recent meeting with poloff, Jehovah's Witnesses leaders Andrey Zhbanov and Aleksandr Zorin provided an update on the situation of the four conscientious objectors currently in prison, as well as describing other incidents involving harassment and detention of their coreligionists. The four conscientious objectors, Shadurdy Uchetov, Akmurat Egendurdyev, and Sekhetmurad and Mukhamedmurad Annamomedov, are located at the same medium security prison at Seidi, but in different sections. They are in good spirits. Sekhetmurad suffered from an intestinal disease and Jehovah's Witnesses asked to be able to assist with treatment. The four are not sent out to work, but just sit around doing nothing. All four had been visited by their parents for a two-hour period, but they are allowed to see them only once per month. The Jehovah's Witnesses are looking for a means to send them food parcels. All four cases were appealed to the provincial courts and upheld. Their appeals were also brought to the Supreme Court, but the authorities acted specifically to shorten the period to submit appeals. Appeals to the Supreme Court are handled through the prison director within ten days of sentencing, but the Annamomedov brothers were transferred from Turkmenbashi prison to Seidi too quickly to allow an appeal. Only the defendants or their parents are allowed to appeal, not an intermediary. Presently complaints have been filed to restore the period for submitting the appeals. Once the domestic appellate options are exhausted, the Jehovah's Witnesses plan to pursue the cases with the OSCE and UN. ¶3. (SBU) The case of the brothers Sekhetmurad and Mukhamedmurad Annamomedov began in May in Balkan province (reftel). The other two cases, Uchetov and Egendurdyev, took place in June in Dashoguz province at the end of the semi-annual military call-up. By August, they were already in the Seidi labor camp. Both Uchetov and Egendurdyev had been called-up for military service in the spring and fall of ¶2008. Each time they refused to serve and were allowed to go. In the spring 2009 call-up, after they refused to serve, charges were filed and trials held. Zhbanov and Zorin could not explain the change in the government's approach in 2009, since conscientious objectors had previously received suspended sentences. Uchetov was sentenced to two years in prison. Egendurdyev received 1-1/2 years for the same offense, perhaps because he was sentenced in a rural area where sentences can be lighter. ¶4. (C) On September 6 in Dashoguz, two police arrived at the home of Jehovah's Witness Davran Kushmanov, under the pretense of being gas service workers. As soon as they were admitted in the house, they identified themselves as police. They started to ask Kushmanov questions, but he refused to answer. Then they took him by force to the police station, where he was presented with documents to sign. He refused to sign and was released. According to Zhbanov and Zorin, Kushmanov had no idea why he was brought to the police station. Kushmanov had had trouble with the police previously when he was proselytizing on the street, but this was the first time that they came to his house. Zhbanov and Zorin suggested that the police are mostly interested in seizing Jehovah's Witness literature because they want to stop it from being spread. The Jehovah's Witness leaders remarked that with computers, disks and the Internet, printed literature is not even necessary any more. Access through a computer is more convenient. ¶5. (C) Zhbanov and Zorin also described the October 5 detention in Ashgabat of Emma Nazarova and Olga Ukhobotova, two women in their 60s-70s. Nazarova is known to the police as a Jehovah's Witness. When the women left their apartment, they were taken to the police station, where they were threatened that their gas, electricity and water would be cut off if they did not stop proselytizing. Then they waited for the arrival of a representative of the Council on Religious Affairs ("CRA"),Rakhim Ataev, who, upon arrival, demanded that the women sign a document. They refused. Ataev then summoned two cleaning women and told them to sign the document, which they did. Nazarova and Ukhobotova were released after being detained for more than two hours, during which time some religious literature was seized. The women plan to file a complaint against the police for exceeding their authority. ¶6. (C) There was also an incident at the Ashgabat airport on September 16 when a Jehovah's Witness, Evgeniy Kalinin, arrived from Almaty with CDs of a religious character, legally licensed and copyrighted, a flash drive, books, magazines and a Bible, all of which were confiscated and sent to the CRA. When the Jehovah's Witnesses asked for the material to be returned, the CRA refused to talk about it. The CRA official instead accused the Jehovah's Witnesses of inciting ethnic conflict. Zhbanov and Zorin said there have been other incidents, and that during the past 2-3 months pressure has increased. Zorin thought there could be a link between problems for Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia and in Turkmenistan because "Russia serves as an example for Turkmen authorities." He also noted that Russian television, which is widely viewed in Turkmenistan, portrays Jehovah's Witnesses as extremists. The Jehovah's Witnesses' strategy now is to take cases to trial when Jehovah's Witnesses are dismissed from their jobs, noting that at trial, the authorities do not cite religion as the reason for dismissal. The leaders thought that contact by Embassy officials with Jehovah's Witnesses in the provinces would be harmful for the church members and that they could lose their jobs. They did not think such contacts would offer any protection against harassment by local officials in the provinces. ¶7. (C) COMMENT. After a period of relative calm for the Jehovah's Witnesses, it seems the authorities have again ratcheted up the pressure, most noticeably with the imprisonment of the conscientious objectors. The Jehovah's Witness leaders suggested that the prisoners are being handled with kid gloves, and that authorities might be monitoring international reaction to the imprisonment before deciding how to proceed. END COMMENT. CURRAN