Print this pageFor Immediate Release
February 14, 2012
(Russian)
Jehovah’s Witness beaten by police and sentenced to prison in Turkmenistan
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan—Vladimir Nuryllayev, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, was convicted of “spreading pornography” during a closed court hearing held on January 18, 2012. He was sentenced to four years of imprisonment.
In September 2011, police seized Nuryllayev’s personal religious literature from the apartment where he lived with his mother and sister. Several weeks later, two local police officers came to Nuryllayev’s home without a warrant, beat him in the presence of his mother, and then seized his laptop computer, and kept it “for examination.” On November 15, 2011, Nuryllayev was arrested.
Several times during the hearing, the judge went to his office to review the pornographic material—in the presence of Nuryllayev. He commented: "I had to close my eyes and block my ears so as not to see or hear the disgusting images and videos. I told them again and again that these recordings had never been on my computer. I also made it clear that my computer was very old and did not have the ability to connect to the Internet. The disk drive didn’t even work, so how could I make copies of anything?”
Nuryllayev’s appeal hearing is scheduled for February 14, 2012.
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