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Repeat prisoner of conscience Nikolay Shelekhov
Amnesty International (01.11.2002)/ HRWF (04.11.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - Email info@hrwf.net - On 2 July 2002 twenty-one-year old Nikolay Shelekhov was sentenced a second time for his objection to serve in the army on religious grounds.
The Jehovah's Witness was convicted of "evasion of military call-up" (Article 219 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan) and sentenced to one and a half years' imprisonment by the President Niyazov District Court in the capital city of Ashgabat. At an appeal hearing conducted in Ashgabat City Court on 6 August, the sentence was upheld. During this latter hearing, the text of the appeal was not read out and the proceedings lasted only ten minutes. Tamara Shelekhova, Nikolay Shelekhov's mother, shockingly told AI in an interview on 29 October: "I think they didn't even read our appeal." His family is now planning to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Amnesty International (AI) regards Nikolay Shelekhov as a prisoner of conscience and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.
Nikolay Shelekhov had previously been convicted for his conscientious objection in August 2000. During his imprisonment, he contracted several illnesses, including kidney problems, and is still suffering from them today. In December 2000, reportedly following his refusal on religious grounds to swear an oath of allegiance to the President, he was forced to spend fifteen days in an extremely cold and wet punishment cell.
Upon completion of his sentence on 1 December 2001, the young man was released. However, he did not realize how quickly his freedom would once again be confiscated. He is currently being held in a prison colony in the eastern city of Turkmenabad (formerly Chardzhev). Nikolay Shelekhov's mother told AI in the same interview: "I hope that your action will help. I very much hope Nikolay will be released under the upcoming December amnesty."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
The Central Asian state of Turkmenistan became independent following the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. Since then it has been dominated by President Saparmurad Niyazov, who has exercised a monopoly on power as both head of state and head of government. The government is extremely intolerant of dissent, restricting political and civil liberties and retaining tight control of the media.
There is no civilian alternative for young men who object to compulsory military service on grounds of conscience. Those who refuse conscription face imprisonment under criminal law. AI continues to receive reports of young men imprisoned in Turkmenistan solely for their refusal to serve in the army on religious grounds (for more information refer to Appeal Case Sheet Prisoner of Conscience Kurban Zakirov, AI Index: EUR 61/003/2002).
Religious groups other than Sunni Muslims and Russian Orthodox Christians face harassment and imprisonment, as well as external and internal exile. Police officers are said to have physically and verbally abused members of religious minority groups to punish them for their religious affiliation. (For more information on religious minority groups in Turkmenistan, please refer to AI's report Turkmenistan: Harassment and imprisonment of religious believers, AI Index: EUR 61/07/00, March 2000).
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
AI believes that everyone has the right to refuse to carry arms on conscientious grounds and considers anyone imprisoned for exercising this right a prisoner of conscience. The right to conscientious objection is a basic component of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The Constitution of Turkmenistan guarantees this right, Article 26 of the Constitution of Turkmenistan states: "Citizens of Turkmenistan have the right to freedom of conviction and the free expression of those convictions." which is also articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (to which Turkmenistan is a state party). It has been recognized as such in resolutions and recommendations adopted by the United Nations (UN) Commission on Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee. For further information on the issue of conscientious objection in general see Out of the Margins: The right to conscientious objection to military service in Europe, AI Index: EUR 01/02/97, April 1997. These bodies have urged governments to guarantee that individuals objecting to compulsory military service because of their conscientiously held beliefs are given the opportunity to perform an alternative service. They have stated explicitly in a number of resolutions that this alternative service should be of a genuinely civilian character and of a length which cannot be considered as punitive. They have also recommended that individuals be permitted to register as conscientious objectors at any point in time before their conscription, after call-up papers have been issued, or during military service. Similarly, the UN Commission on Human Rights has emphasized that information about how to seek recognition as a conscientious objector should be readily available to all those facing conscription into the armed forces - as well as to those already conscripted.
Furthermore, as a member of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Turkmenistan has also committed itself to "consider introducing?various forms of alternative service, which are compatible with the reason for conscientious objection...," as stated in Article 18.4 of the 1990 Copenhagen Document.
Until a civilian alternative to army service is created, Nikolay Shelekhov (and others who harbour his religious convictions) will continue to face imprisonment and subsequent abuse in Turkmenistan's harsh prison facilities. AI has pressured Turkmenistan for the development of law and procedure which make adequate provision for conscientious objectors. In doing so, AI has urged the authorities to release all young men detained solely for their onscientious objection to military service, and to take all appropriate steps to introduce a civilian alternative service of a non-punitive nature, and a fair procedure in law for applying it, for all those whose beliefs preclude them from carrying out compulsory military service.
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English, Russian, Turkmen or your own language (if writing in Russian it would be good to apologize for not writing in Turkmen and explain that this is because you do not know the language) - expressing concern that Nikolay Shelekhov was sentenced to one and a half years' imprisonment in July 2002 for his refusal on religious grounds to serve in the army;
- - stating that AI believes that everyone has the right to refuse to carry arms on conscientious grounds;
- - - stating that AI considers Nikolay Shelekhov a prisoner of conscience and calls for his prompt and unconditional release;
- - - expressing concern at reports that Nikolay Shelekhov has been punished for the second time under Article 219 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan ("evasion of military call-up"), in violation of Article 14(7) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
- - - urging the authorities to introduce without delay legislative provision to ensure that a civilian alternative of non-punitive length is available to those whose religious, ethical, moral, humanitarian, philosophical or other conscientiously-held beliefs preclude them from performing military service. This would be in line with Turkmenistan's commitment as a member of the OSCE as stated in Article 18.4 of the 1990 Copenhagen Document.
Mother condemns renewed sentence for Jehovahs Witness
by Felix Corley
Keston News Service - (24.07.2002)/HRWF International Secretariat (25.07.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Tamara Shelekhova, mother of a Jehovah's Witness sentenced earlier this month for a second time for refusing military service, has condemned the renewed punishment. "It was not a legal decision," she told Keston News Service from the capital Ashgabad on 24 July. "People shouldn't be sentenced a second time for the same thing." Shelekhova reported that her son, Nikolai Shelekhov, lodged an appeal against the sentence to the district court on 8 July, which is due to be passed on to the Ashgabad city court - which will hear the appeal - on 26 July. She said the court is expected to give her the appeal date on 29 July.
Shelekov, who is 20, was sentenced on 2 July after a two-day hearing to one and a half years in prison by the court of the Niyazov district of Ashgabad under Article 219-1 of the Criminal Code, which punishes refusal to perform compulsory military service. The judge, Jeren Aymamedova, ignored Shelekhov's request for alternative civilian service. An official of the Ashgabad office of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), who had attended the trial, told Keston on 24 July that Shelekhov had represented himself and appeared to be well prepared. Shelekhov had appealed to have the judge removed from the case when she failed to explain his procedural rights, though this was refused. "This was a fair complaint," the official declared.
Shelekhov - who became a Jehovah's Witness in 1998 - was previously imprisoned under the same article. He served his full sentence from December 2000 to December 2001 in a labour camp in Seydi in the north east of the country. "He was pressured to swear the oath of loyalty to the president, but as he refused he was twice sent to the isolation cells for fifteen days in punishment," his mother told Keston. Shelekhova added that her son's health is still suffering from the after-effects of his previous sentence, particularly with kidney problems.
She added that he had not fallen under the amnesty - which saw thousands of prisoners freed across Turkmenistan - because he refused to write a statement recognising his guilt and to swear an oath of loyalty to President Saparmurat Niyazov. "These oaths normally have to be sworn on a copy of the Koran or the Ruhname [a book of Niyazov's writings]," Shelekhova reported.
Both Shelekhova and the OSCE office told Keston that no other Jehovah's Witnesses are currently imprisoned for refusing military service. However, they noted that three others - Oguljan Jumanazarova, Ikhtiyar Khalikov and Kurban Zakirov - are known to be imprisoned on other charges brought to punish them for their religious activity (see KNS 22 March 2002). Shelekhova said that a number of Jehovah's Witnesses who have already served sentences for refusing military service fear they could be re-arrested for refusing any further call-up.
Turkmenistan has the most repressive policy of all the former Soviet republics. Only communities of the state-sanctioned Muslim Board and the Russian Orthodox Church have been allowed to register. The government treats all other faiths - including the Baptists, Pentecostals, Armenian Apostolic Church, Jews, Baha'is, Jehovah's Witnesses, Lutherans and Hare Krishna community - as illegal.
Shelekhova confirmed to Keston that the Jehovah's Witnesses still face tight official controls on their activity. "There is a ban on our meetings, but we do meet despite this."
Source: http://www.keston.org/
Imam joins Baptist deportation moves
Keston News Service (18.07.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (22.07.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - State officials were joined by the imam of the Muslim community in the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi (formerly Krasnovodsk) when they visited the homes of two Baptist families on 14 July to order their deportation from Turkmenistan, local Baptists reported in a statement received by Keston News Service.
Nadezhda Potolova (and her four children) and Valentina Kalataevskaya (and the six of her seven children still living at home) were told they must leave the country within a month, as they were not citizens of Turkmenistan and their residence permits had been revoked. In June 2001 the women's husbands were deported to neighbouring Kazakhstan, but they managed to remain behind, with their children.
The deportation moves come as conditions for Protestant churches in Turkmenistan are reported to have eased recently.
Source: http://www.keston.org/
Protestants forced to renounce their faith
by Felix Corley
Keston News Service (18.05.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (21.05.2002) - Website http://www.hrwf.net - E-mail info@hrwf.net - Turkmenistan's police and political police have forced a group of Protestants in a small village in the east of the country to renounce their faith publicly, Christian sources in Turkmenistan have told Keston News Service.
The seven or eight Protestants - rounded up after a female village resident received a Christian magazine through the post from Kiev - were summoned at the beginning of May and ordered to swear an oath on a copy of President Saparmurat Niyazov's "spiritual book" Ruhnama renouncing the Bible and their faith in Jesus. Three of the group who refused - Murad Djumanazarov, Jamilya Boltaeva and Nurmurad (last name unknown) - were expelled from the village and are now subject to a manhunt ordered from the capital Ashgabad by the political police (KNB).
The duty officer at the KNB headquarters in Ashgabad declined to provide Keston on 17 May with any information about the case, which department of the KNB was leading the manhunt or to provide further contact telephone numbers. "This is the first I've heard about this from you," declared the officer, who declined to give his name. "I don't know anything." He said the KNB had no press department.
Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org/
Tea-drinking can lead to internal deportation?
Keston News Service (14.02.2002)/ HRWF (15.02.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.netIn the wake of a police raid on 10 February on a group of six Protestants who had gathered in a private home in the capital Ashgabad to drink tea and "have fellowship", the host has been threatened with the confiscation of her home and deportation to a village nearby Protestant sources have told Keston News Service that the four adults present were fined and then released, but that the home-owner was later warned that using her home for religious meetings and "attracting young people into a sect" was wrong and that she would be deported. No official of the local administration was prepared to explain to Keston why this private gathering would lead to the confiscation of the host's home, but two officials separately insisted that action against unregistered religious communities was justified
.
Keston News Service: http://www.keston.org/
Plea for visa-free-cross-border Muslim graveyard visits
Keston News Service (18.01.2002)/ HRWF (18.01.2002) C Website http://www.hrwf.net C Email info@hrwf.net - An Uzbek human rights organisation has appealed to Turkmenistan's president to allow Muslims in the region along Uzbekistan's western border with Turkmenistan to visit graves of relatives in Turkmenistan on two Muslim festivals a year without paying what it believes is an unaffordable visa fee - more than
most Uzbeks earn in a month.
In December a riot was caused when hundreds of Uzbeks forced their way through the border in an attempt to reach a cemetery just inside Turkmenistan on the festival of Ramadan Haita [Eid-al-fitr]. Talib Yakubov, head of the unregistered Society for Human Rights of Uzbekistan, told Keston News Service on 16 January that he was keen to prevent another riot. "People simply do not have six dollars to pay the Turkmen border guards for a visa, and that means that at Kurban-Bairam [Eid-al-Adha, marked this year on 22 February] they will again force their way across the border," he said.
Atakov freed from prison, but pressure continues
Keston News Service (10.01.2002)/ HRWF International Secretariat (10.01.2002) - Website: http://www.hrwf.net - Email: info@hrwf.net - Baptist prisoner Shageldy Atakov has been freed before the end of his four-year sentence, Keston News Service has learnt.
He was released from prison in the Caspian port city of Turkmenbashi early on 8 January and has been reunited with his wife Artygul and five children. "Jesus has given me a Christmas gift," Atakov was quoted as saying. The terms of release have not been made clear, however, and Atakov has received neither a release certificate nor his identity papers.
The Turkmen authorities continue to put pressure on Baptist congregations, whose activity the government regards as illegal. The church in Balkanabad was raided on 23 December and a leading member of the Ashgabad congregation died in mysterious circumstances on 22 December.
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