Print this pageFor Immediate Release
December 30, 2009
Uzbekistan denies amnesty after “illegal religious activity”
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan—Three of Jehovah’s Witnesses who remain in prison for sentences of up to four years for allegedly organizing “illegal religious activity” have been excluded from amnesty considerations.
In 2008, Abdubannob Ahmedov and Sergey Ivanov were sentenced to four years and three and one-half years in prison, respectively, in Margilan, Fergana Region, Uzbekistan, for organizing illegal religious activity. Olim Turayev, a medical doctor and married father of three sons, recently completed the first year of his four-year sentence in a labor colony near Samarkand, also for “illegal religious activity” and for teaching religion.
The same day that an application for amnesty was submitted in behalf of Olim Turayev, he was found guilty of “violating the prison routine.” Prisoners found guilty of such a violation cannot be granted amnesty. Turayev was immediately transferred from an “open” labor colony to a “general” labor colony in Tavaksai, Tashkent Region.
Abdubannob Ahmedov also was subsequently accused of “violating the prison routine.” As a result, Ahmedov no longer qualifies for an amnesty and has been transferred to the general labor colony in Navoi (near Samarkand). Sergey Ivanov is being held in the Tavaksai general labor colony in the Tashkent Region.
Appeals of the convictions of these three have also been denied. A formal request in their behalf to Uzbekistan’s State Committee of Religious Affairs to support an amnesty for Jehovah’s Witnesses who are imprisoned for practicing their faith was not successful. Jehovah’s Witnesses continue to seek a constructive dialogue with Uzbek authorities regarding these prisoners.
U.S. contact: Philip Brumley, telephone (845) 306-0711
Russian-speaking contact: Yuriy Toporov, telephone +7-727-232-36-62