Turkmenistan Grants Amnesty to Four Conscientious Objectors ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan—Four young men were reunited with their families after being arrested and jailed over the past year for refusing Turkmenistan’s obligatory military service. The four, all Jehovah’s Witnesses, objected to serving in the republic’s armed forces because of their Bible-trained conscience. On April 16, 2005, the president of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat A. Niyazov, decreed a special amnesty for the young men. The Turkmen Watan television station reported on the special amnesty, and the newspaper “Neutral Turkmenistan” published the presidential decree. The release of the four young men effectively emptied Turkmenistan prisons of all remaining conscientious objectors who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. Unlike the treatment accorded to Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objectors in the past, some of whom were viewed as traitors, imprisoned in maximum-security facilities and mistreated, these four young men were incarcerated in minimum-security prison camps and treated humanely. Although Jehovah’s Witnesses are willing to perform alternative civilian service, including building roads or serving in hospitals or seniors’ homes, such alternative service is not yet available in Turkmenistan. International observers see these improved conditions of imprisonment and the special amnesty as a positive sign that the Turkmen government recognizes that the Bible-based position of Jehovah’s Witnesses is one of neutrality in the political affairs and conflicts of nations. “Jehovah’s Witnesses are obedient to the government and the laws of the land where they live,” commented Gregory D. Olds, Associate General Counsel for Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States. “By their good conduct, Witnesses have a beneficial effect in the lands where they carry out their activity.” European media contact: Christian Presber U.S. and other media contact J.R. Brown:
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