Print this pageFor Immediate Release
January 6, 2012
(Russian)
Turkmenistan’s intolerance of religious freedom met with international criticism
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan—Recent court rulings underscore Turkmenistan’s vacillating posture on the issue of conscientious objection to military service. In July 2007, officials freed Nuryagdy Gayyrov, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses who objected to serving in the military because of his Bible-based beliefs. However, since December 2009, eight conscientious objectors, who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, have been convicted as criminals and are serving sentences of up to two years.
Former prisoners of conscience reveal that solitary confinement and beatings were routine treatment within the labor colony. “The cell was cold. I could only sleep in a seated position and I was barely fed,” admits Sakhetmurad Annamamedov, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who spent two years in the Seydi labor colony. He added, “A member of the Special Police Force (OMON) entered my cell on two occasions and beat me on the head and neck with his baton.” Sakhetmurad’s brother, Mukhammedmurad endured similar treatment during his two years of imprisonment. “I spent six consecutive days in solitary confinement. There was nothing in the cell, only bare concrete. Officers threatened that if I did not renounce my religion, they would put me in a much stricter prison regime.” Shadurdy Uchetov, a Witness who also spent two years in the Seydi labor colony, sustained head injuries from a beating he received from a member of OMON. “I needed six stitches to close the wound.”
Turkmenistan’s severe policy against those who refuse military service on grounds of conscience has been met with increasing international criticism. “I am concerned that conscientious objection is a criminal offence and that no alternative civilian service is offered,” declared former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Asma Jahangir, at the conclusion of her visit to the country. She stressed that the right to perform an alternative, nonmilitary service is part of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion guaranteed in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Further, in July 2011, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled for the first time in its history that the right to conscientious objection to military service is recognized as being fully protected under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This harmonizes with several legal rulings on this issue already made by the UN Human Rights Committee based on the ICCPR, which Turkmenistan agreed to by ratification in 1997.
Media Contacts:
J. R. Brown, Office of Public Information, tel. +1 718 560 5600
Belgium: European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses, tel. +32 2 782 0015
Britain: European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses, tel. +44 208 906 2211
Legal Contact: Office of General Counsel, tel. +1 845 306 0711