For Immediate Release May 7, 2004

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Turkmen prisoner five years later

Chärjew, TURKMENISTAN—Kurban Zakirov was imprisoned on April 23, 1999, for conscientious objection to military service. The next month he was sentenced to one year in a minimum-security corrective labor colony. In December 1999, he was granted a pardon but was not released because he refused to place his hand on the Koran and give an oath of loyalty to the President and the State.

In the spring of 2000 the sentence had been completely served, but when the time came for Zakirov to be released, an officer, in the presence of others, ripped off his own shoulder straps and said that Zakirov had attacked him. False charges against Zakirov were immediately drawn up and he was sentenced to eight years in a high-security corrective labor colony. Later Zakirov was transferred to the maximum-security prison in Turkmenbashi where he is in the fourth of his eight-year sentence; his health continues to deteriorate. He is now 24 years old.

In 2003, five other young men were also sentenced to one and a half or two years in prison for their conscientious objection to military service. Ranging in age from 19 to 23, they are being kept in total isolation and are not allowed any visitors.

Witness prisoners are intimidated in an effort to get them to renounce their faith. They are mocked with: "You'll live your whole life in prison," and "we will taunt you until you die." They are also threatened with rape and other bodily injury. Some of these threats have reportedly materialized. Insults and public beatings compound the existing poor conditions.

Despite the government claim that all believers have complete freedom of conscience in Turkmenistan, legally assembling for religious services requires state registration. Since Jehovah's Witnesses are not registered, their religious activity is therefore considered illegal and subject to criminal penalties.

Contact: J. R. Brown, telephone: (718) 560-5600