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Baptist court victory may lead to changes in Russian
legislation
RPTs HOPES FOR OPEN AIR SERVICESBlagovest-info, 31 July 2007
It is hoped in the Moscow patriarchate that soon amendments will be introduced into Russian legislation that will explain the possibility and the procedure for organizing divine services under the open sky. This is how RPTs reacted to the decision of the Strausbourg court that satisfied the appeal of protestants from Moscow suburb Chekhov against the prohibition of conducting such worship services.
"There is a lacuna in our legislation: the law on demonstrations, processions, and protests in the case of conducting worship services outside of the houses of worship and their yards makes a reference to the law on freedom of conscience and religious associations, but corresponding amendments have still not be made in this law. We will hope that this will happen in the near future," Vsevolod Chaplin, vice-chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, told RIA Novosti.
This is how he commented upon the story of the Grace of Christ protestant church which was prohibited from conducting meetings out-of-doors in the Moscow suburb of Chekhov.
City authorities explained their decision by saying that activity of the congregation disagrees with the religious convictions of the majority of citizens and can lead to mass disorders. In order the get the prohibition abolished, Pastor Peter Boronkevich went to the European Court for Human Rights. Last week the Strasbourg court satisfied the pastor's suit and required Russian authorities to pay him 6,000 Euros as moral compensation.
According to Chaplin, Pastor Boronkevich "already quite some time ago presented his claims to authorities at various levels."
"At the same time, it is known that many churches, including protestant ones, conduct services in the open air and this has not been attended with disturbances," the news agency's interlocutor said.
"I think, in any case, when a religious organization plans a service under the open sky, it should take into account matters of security and the opinion of local residents, and so forth," Chaplin emphasized.
Expressing hope for a quick legislative resolution of the problem, he reported that the leader of the Russian State Duma Committee on Affairs of Public Associations and Religious Organizations, Sergei Popov, thinks this question is one of high priority.
The director of the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, Vitaly Vlasenko, agreed with the necessity of improving the legislation in this sphere.
He said that after a house of worship was set afire and burned, in which members of the Grace of Christ church had met, they simple were forced to meet outside and the sent the appropriate notification to the city leadership. "However the first meeting outside was visited by law enforcement agencies and those who had assembled were asked to disperse," Vlasenko noted.
He is sure that Pastor Boronkevich appealed to Strasbourg "because there was no way out." Now the Baptists are satisfied with the court's decision.
Vlasenko emphasized that the Grace of Christ congregation has been active in Chekhov since the middle of the last century and numbers now about 70 to 100 members. (tr. by PDS, posted 1 August 2007)
Related article: Russian Protestants defended by European Human Rights court , July 27, 2007 Russia Religion News Current News Items
Baptist preachers harassed by police
BAPTIST EVANGELISTIC BICYCLE EXPEDITION MEETS OFFICIAL OPPOSITIONPortal-credo.ru, 30 July 2007
At the present time, an evangelistic bicycle expedition is being conducted in the city of Lipetsk province, which this year is meeting unprecedented opposition on the part of authorities, the "BaptistYouth.ru" site reports.
In the middle of the bicycle expedition the authorities of regional centers put an end to permitting evangelism in parks and city gardens, although they had been previously informed about them and gave the "okay."
Thus in the Stanovoe settlement, the whole group of young bicyclists was taken to the police station along with believers who were accompanying them. The head of the bicycle expedition, the senior presbyter of the EKhB churches in Lipetsk province, Anatoly Ivanovich Sedogin, was interrogated by police agents separately from the rest. After interrogation they were released.
The next day, 27 July, in the city of Eltse, three "young people who were conversing about the harmfulness of drugs and alcohol" were detained by police. After questioning they were fingerprinted and photographed frontally and in profile.
The bicycle expedition is continuing in other districts of Lipetsk province and will end on 1 August 2007. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 July 2007)
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Supporters of both sides in academicians' letter
dispute continue activity
"FREE RADICALS" YOUTH ORGANIZATION TO DEMONSTRATE
IN SUPPORT OF ACADEMICIANSPortal-credo.ru, 30 July 2007
The youth organization called "Free radicals" intends to conduct a picket in front of the building of the presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAN). The picketing will be conducted on 31 July from 1900 to 2000, a Portal-credo.ru correspondent reports.
In this way members of the youth organization want to express support for the letter of ten academicians to the president of Russia against clericalization of the system of education and various spheres of public life, as well as the mud-slinging against the scholar-signatories that has arisen. The organizers of the demonstration call supporters of the secular state and the secular system of values to join their action.
An informational communication of the "Free radicals" regarding the upcoming action says: "We consider it extremely necessary and important to present a broad front in support of the worthy scholars of the country. Our demonstration is one of the first actions within the framework of this campaign growing in the country in support of honest, secular science in the Russian federation."
The picket will include such slogans as "In support of a secular state," "Against clericalization of education," and "In support of the scientific community of the Russian federation."
According to a statement of the press service of the "Free radicals" movement, a notice about the establishment of the picket was submitted to the prefecture of the Southwestern Administrative District of Moscow, in accordance with established legal procedure.
"Free radicals" is a youth organization that broke of from the Radical party of Russia (of which Alexei Khramov is leader) because of disagreement with the style of administration of this party. The ideology of national radical movements and parties was formulated by the Trans-european Radical party; its priority is political forms of the protection of human rights. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 July 2007)
CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP IN SOLIDARITY WITH RUSSIAN CHURCH IN ATTEMPTS TO INFLUENCE SOCIETY
Interfax, 30 July 2007
The head of the Catholic archdiocese of the Mother of God in Moscow, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, supports the attempts of the church to penetrate various spheres of public life.
"If I have the opportunity through your news agency, newspapers, and television to speak about this I must speak. Because this is my duty. The church is separate from the state, but it has the right to point to mistakes that society commits. In order that society may build its life in accordance with the law of God," Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz told Interfax on Monday.
He said that today society is experiencing "a very difficult time," and is confronted with frequent challenges "of the secularization of society and of moral relativism," which are expressed, inter alia, in the growth of "such social pathologies as abortion, divorce, and drug addiction."
The archbishop noted that in these circumstances the church "cannot be silent; it must speak," and its proclamation must resound "not only within the walls of vestries by any means, but outside of their limits."
"Today many people affirm that faith is a private, personal affair of a person. But, excuse me, when everywhere on the streets of the cities are advertisements for tobacco and alcohol, and all can see them, is this really only a private affair! But nobody says anything about this and nobody gets upset about it," the agency's interlocutor said.
Commenting of the recently declared accusation on the part of ten academicians directed to the Russian Orthodox church, which supposedly is trying to introduce theology into the list of academic specialties, the Catholic archbishop recalled that it was the church that created the first universities in Europe.
"The very word 'theology' consists of the words "theos" and "logos" which is "science about God." It was the Catholic church that created the first university in Bologna and, in principle, has done very much for the development of science," Kondrusiewicz noted. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 July 2007)
REPRESENTATIVES OF PUBLIC CRITICIZE ACADEMICIANS
Interfax, 30 July 2007
Representatives of the Russian public have spoken out in defense of the Orthodox worldview and have subjected to sharp criticism the ten academicians of RAN who recently accused the church of "clericalization of the country."
"The private opinion of a small number of famous scholars, expressed by them in a letter in the form of categorical demands, cannot be recognized as proper and correct," says an open letter of representatives of science, education, culture, business, the army and cossackdom, which was delivered on Monday to "Interfax."
The authors of the document are convinced that as to its contents the letter of the academicians, among whom are Nobel laureates Vitaly Ginzburg and Zhores Alferov, "overflows with the spirit of division and represents a materialist atheistic manifesto calling the structures of authority to a forthright prohibition of alternative thinking."
"The demands advanced in the letter in essence represent another attempt, as in the time of the militant atheism of bolshevism, to make atheism the state ideology imposed by means of command and prohibitional measures, abasing the feelings of the majority of believing people and violating their constitutional rights," the letter states.
Representatives of the community also called the letter of the group of academicians provocational and directed to "ideological division and exhaustion of the spiritual and moral forces and resources of the multiethnic people of our country in fruitless discussions and a mindless struggle 'of one against the other' and 'of all against all.'"
The authors of the letter point out that in world science there exists an entire segment that has received the name creationism "which is philosophically and scientifically based upon the divine origin of the world and mankind." At the same time in leading universities of the world, alongside academic degrees in the areas of mathematics, physics, economics, sociology, political science, and others there are awarded baccalaureate, master's, and doctor's degrees in theology.
"And nobody, even those enjoying the highest positions and ranks, has the right to an atheistic worldview monopoly nor the right to divide the peoples of united Russia ideologically. Nobody can deprive us, free citizens of Russia, of making our own philosophical spiritual and moral choices and of educating our children in the spirit of the faith of the holy fathers in accordance with our centuries-old cultural traditions," the document emphasizes. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 July 2007)
BISHOP OF RUSSIAN CHURCH VIEWS "LETTER OF THE ACADEMICIANS" AS APPROACH OF MORIBUND MILITANT ATHEISM
Interfax, 30 July 2007
Bishop of Saratov and Volsk Longin, who is a member of the Public Chamber of the Russian federation, thinks that the accusations of a number of academicians of RAN against the church are baseless.
"Only a completely blind person living in a world of some kind of phantoms and illusions without any kind of contact with living reality can fail to note that today the return of religion into the life of society is a worldwide trend, in both West and East," the bishop writes in an article that was published Monday in the "Izvestiia" newspaper.
The author notes that at a time when "our public figures are talking about 'creeping clericalism,' in several Islamic country we are seeing the completion of a transfer to hierocracyÑnot to clericalism but to rule of the clergy."
The bishop recalled that in the letter of the academicians, in which they express concern about "ever growing clericalization of Russian society," they use the expression of American physicist S. Weinberg that the majority of scholars whom he knows do not think about religion.
"Actually, there are people who do not think not only about religion but also about many other things. That is their personal affair. But to use them as an example is as strange as, for example, a colorblind person who cannot distinguish several colors and then claims that he feels fine and does not at all need to make such a distinction," the bishop writes.
In conclusion he adds that among the charges expressed by the academicians there is nothing new and the echo in the press was evoked by only one cause: "not the onset of clericalism, but the thoughtless attacks of a dying but still militant atheism that is conducting an active struggle primarily against the teaching of 'Foundations of Orthodox culture' in our schools. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 July 2007)
VORONEZH RIGHTS PROTECTION ORGANIZATIONS SUPPORT ACADEMICIAN GINZBURG
Portal-credo.ru, 30 July 2007
Representatives of organizations defending civil rights operating in Voronezh have expressed their support for the letter of the academicians. In the event of a criminal prosecution of Academician Vitaly Ginzburg the Voronezh rights protectors promised to provide him juridical support.
As Natalia Zvyagina, a representative of the "Voronezh/Chernozemie" inter-regional rights group (one of the structures expressing solidarity with the academicians) told Portal-credo.ru, since 25 July they have collected more than 150 signatures of organizations and private persons. Signatures have been sent by people not only from Voronezh but also from other cities, Zvyagina noted.
At the end of May a number of civic organizations of Voronezh issued an appeal for preserving the secular character of education in the schools of Voronezh province, after the publication by the leadership of the regional education department of notice of the adoption of mass study of Foundations of Orthodox culture in educational institutions. (tr. by PDS, posted 30 July 2007)
CONFLICTS CONTINUALLY ARISE ON PATH TO CHURCH
Rights protectors and European court prevent church from delivering its gifts to youth
by Alexander Yagodkin
Novaia gazeta, 30 July 2007
In Voronezh the church is concerned about the corruption of youth, the growth of crime, and immorality within its ranks. The recipe for healing the church is well known: familiarity with the word of God. However dark forces involved with cosmopolitanism and the activity of western intelligence agencies put the brakes on good works by all means possible.
Metropolitan of Voronezh and Borisoglebsk Sergii, addressing a group of Orthodox pedagogues (teachers of secular schools who are conducting classes on "spiritual and moral maintenance on the basis of Orthodoxy"), complained that rectors of higher educational institutions of Voronezh refused to allow him to meet with students. Although such meetings are absolutely necessary with regard to the antisocial conduct of many students.
The rectors admit such conduct of a portion of the students, but they do not wish to permit the church into the schools. The metropolitan especially reproached the rector of the Voronezh State University, Vladimir Titov, who explained his refusal as avoidance of an ideological struggle. The rector stated that a survey showed that only 2 percent of the students of VGU are active Orthodox believers and he took the issue to the Academic Council. But the council also responded with a refusal regarding meetings of the metropolitan with students.
In the spring, even before tensions between the schools and RPTs arose, rights protection organizations of Voronezh began to raise a fuss. They publicly criticized an agreement of cooperation between the Education Department of Voronezh province, the Institute for Continuing Education of Teachers, and the Voronezh diocese of RPTs, according to which, beginning 1 September 2007, the "Foundations of Orthodox culture" will become an "obligatory elective" subject, starting with grade two, irrespective of the convictions and religious confession of the pupils and their parents. The rights defenders declared that this violates article 28 of the constitution of RF (freedom of religious confession) and they recalled that the right to freedom of conscience (article 56) cannot be restricted even in emergency situations. And they specified: "We are not strict opponents of the education of children in the spirit of religious (including Christian) values, as the supporters of 'Foundations of Orthodox culture' depict us. But such education is a matter for the family and the children themselves and not the Education Department. We ask that the government not interfere with the souls of school children and not choose for them what they are to believe."
The actions of the rights defenders have still had no effect upon the prospects for Voronezh school children to study "Foundations of Orthodox culture." However now they have received a very serious ally for their side in the West. The European Court for Human Rights made a precedent-setting decision on an appeal from parents of Norwegian school children. The court decided that classes in Christian education, religion and way of life that were introduced into the schools of Norway violate article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which provides for "freedom of thought, conscience, and religion." (tr. by PDS, posted 30 July 2007)
Russian original posted on Portal-credo.ru, 30 July 2007
Related articles: Religion curriculum in schools being prepared , June 20, 2007 Supporters of religion in schools rally , June 19, 2007
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Moldova adopts antisectarian law
STATUS OF ORTHODOXY IN MOLDOVA STRENGTHENED BY LAWInterfax, 27 July 2007
The parliament of Moldova on Friday agreed with the suggestion of the president for changes in the law on religious organizations.
According to these amendments, "the state recognizes the special significance and premier role of the Christian Orthodox religion and, accordingly, the Orthodox church in the life, history, and culture of the people of Moldova."
In June of this year the president refused to confirm the law adopted by parliament and returned it for improvement.
His objections cited "the absence of a mention of Orthodoxy as the traditional religion of the Moldavian people," and also a simplification of the procedure for registration of structures of other religious denominations.
The original version provoked protests by priests of the Orthodox metropolia of Kishinev and all-Moldova, who picketed the residence of the president demanding that he not sign the law "that poses a danger for Orthodoxy in the republic."
Amendments introduced into the law are directed, primarily, to the struggle with the sects. (tr. by PDS, posted 29 July 2007)
Related article: Moldovan parliament to revise religion law June 28, 2007 Russia Religion News Current News Items
Greek Catholics expel Roman Catholics from Ukrainian church
GREEK AND ROMAN CATHOLICS ARGUE OVER CHURCH IN LVIV
Interfax, 26 July 2007
The head of Ukrainian Greek Catholics, Cardinal Liubomir Guzar, sent to his colleague Cardinal Marian Yavorsky, the leader of Catholics of the Latin rite living in Ukraine, a letter with an explanation regarding the expulsion of Lviv Roman Catholics from the church that was assigned to them in the seventeenth century.
"Greek Catholics are conducting services in this church only temporarily. I assure you that mutual understanding between peoples, especially if they belong to one and the same catholic church, is not simply an empty slogan but a genuine reality," the letter says. It was published on the site of the Catholic Information Agency of Poland.
Earlier the same source posted the text of an appeal by M. Yavorsky to L. Guzar in which the Greek Catholics were accused of "offending the religious and national feelings" of their Latin brethren, the majority of whom are of Polish descent. Cardinal Yavorsky recalled that in the church of the Mother of God and the Presentation of the Lord "no Greek Catholic parish has existed," and therefore for overcoming the conflict it is necessary that "Greek Catholics surrender the church to the faithful of the Latin rite."
In his turn, vicar bishop of the Lviv archdiocese of the Roman Catholic church, Marian Buchek, explained that at the beginning of July Ukrainian Greek Catholics erected, without permission, an iconostasis in the disputed church and after this declared that Catholics of the Latin rite will no longer be permitted in this church. He added that Greek Catholics are already using four Latin churches in Lviv because Roman Catholics are unable to maintain them.
Under the soviet regime, the disputed church was used as an exhibit hall. After Ukraine's withdrawal from USSR local authorities assigned the church to Catholics of the Eastern rite. After a ten-year struggle for their rights, in 2002 Roman Catholics obtained permission to conduct masses in this church. It is appropriate the say that this is the only Roman Catholic church in Lviv that in the postsoviet period has been, at least on paper, assigned to Roman Catholics. The majority of Lviv's Catholic churches today belong to Greek Catholics, schismatic autocephalist Orthodox, and even protestantsÑBaptists, Adventists, and the like.
Catholics of the Latin rite in Ukraine have 870 parishes. Greek Catholics possess four times as many. (tr. by PDS, posted 29 July 2007)
Russian original posted on Sedmitsa.ru site, 26 July 2007
Orthodox develop alternative to Orthodox culture class for public schools
"SPIRITUAL CULTURE OF THE URALS" TO BE TAUGHT IN EKATERINBURG SCHOOLSITAR-TASS, 26 July 2007
An obligatory subject "The spiritual culture of the Urals" will be introduced at the beginning of the school year into 40 general education schools of Ekaterinburg.
In the class the pupils will study the moral and cultural traditions of the territory and the history of the temples and churches of the Urals. Attention also will be devoted to moral training.
Textbooks for the new discipline were developed jointly by specialists of the Ekaterinburg diocese and the Ministry of Public and Professional Education of Sverdlovsk province. At the same time, as the specialist of the academic department of the diocese, Elena Glushkova, emphasized, "there is no accent in the course upon religion but Orthodoxy is viewed as a part of the culture of the territory."
Also, school children will study different aspects of Islam and Buddhism, which also are represented in the Urals.
At the present time, the elective course "Foundations of Orthodox culture" is conducted in 200 schools of the Urals, which pupils attend in accordance with their own desire. (tr. by PDS, posted 29 July 2007)
Russian original posted on Sedmitsa.ru site, 26 July 2007
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Russian Protestants defended by European Human Rights court
EVANGELICAL CHRISTIANS OF MOSCOW PROVINCE WIN CASE IN EUROPEAN COURT FOR HUMAN RIGHTSPress Release
Slavic Legal Center, 27 July 2007
The European Court for Human Rights in Strasbourg reached a decision in favor of the "Grace of Christ" (Blagodat Khristova) church of Evangelical Christians, which is active in the city of Chekhov of Moscow province, according to the press service of the Slavic Legal Center. The pastor of the church, Peter Barankevich, had appealed to the European court against the local administration, which had forbidden the congregation to conduct public worship services anywhere other than the church's buildings.
The decision to accept the appeal was made on 2005. On 26 July 2007 the Strasbourg court ruled that in this case there had occurred a violation of article 11 of the Convention on Protection of Human Rights (freedom of assembly and association), viewed in light of article 9 of the Convention (freedom of thought, conscience, and religion). Besides this, the court awarded the plaintiff 6,000 Euros as compensation for moral harm.
The court noted in its decision that the fact that evangelical Christianity is professed by a minority of the population of Chekhov cannot serve as justification for preventing the church from exercising its rights. There is no doubt that the meeting that the plaintiff planned bore a peaceful character. Even if there had been any kind of threat of actions against the church, the decision of the European court said, then the administration of Chekhov had a large choice of measures which would facilitate the conduct of the meeting without any impediments. Thus the court decided that prohibition of the conduct of a public worship service is not necessary and is not permitted in a democratic society.
We recall that the conflict with regard to conducting a public worship service between the "Grace of Christ" church of Evangelical Christians and the Chekhov city administration arose back in 2002. Pastor Peter Barankevich applied for permission to conduct a public worship service in September 2002. The deputy head of the administration refused permission and indicated that "The administration of the city of Chekhov has frequently given notice about the impossibility of conducting a public worship service on city lands designated for public use (squares, streets, parks, etc)." The pastor was advised to conduct services and other religious rituals at the legal address of the church or in other premises that are owned or used by members of the church.
Peter Barankevich appealed the decision of the administration, but in October 2002 the Chekhov city court of Moscow province turned down the appeal. The decision of this court said: "The refusal under appeal is legal, and thus it is justified. Since the church of Evangelical Christians professes a religion that is distinct from the religion professed by the majority of the population of the given locality, and considering that more than 20 religious organizations of various confessions are active in the Chekhov region, the conduct by one of them of public worship services in a public place may lead to . . . dissatisfaction of persons belonging to another confession and to public disorders." In November 2002 the Moscow provincial court also let stand the decision of the administration.
The Slavic Legal Center, which took an active part in the fate of the Chekhov "Grace of Christ" church of Evangelical Christians, hopes that this decision of the European court, as also the decision with regard to the Moscow division of the Salvation Army of 2006, will serve as a good lesson for officials who for one or another reason want to violate the constitutional rights of citizens to freedom of conscience and religious confession. Any illegal decision will have negative consequences also for these very unjust officials and for the image of Russia in the world. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 July 2007)
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Conscientious objectors under threat in Turkmenistan
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL LAUNCHES URGENT ACTION TO HELP JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES IN TURKMENIAPortal-credo.ru, 27 July 2007
The influential humans rights organization "Amnesty International" began a new urgent action to help conscientious objectors against military service among Jehovah's Witnesses in Turkmenistan, a corespodent of Portal-credo.ru was told at the Russian Amnesty International resource center.
Thanks to public intervention and informational support, on 23 July 27-year-old Nuryagdy Gairov was released; he has already spent a prison term imposed upon him as punishment for conscientious refusal of military service. In March 2000 Amnesty International recognized him as a prisoner of conscience.
According to available information, the prosecution appealed the prison sentence given to Nuryagdy Gairov on the basis that it was "too harsh." According to latest information, on 26 July the court of the city of Ashkhabad replaced the eighteen-month prison term with a year of probation. That same evening he was released from the Yashlyk prison located approximately forty kilometers from the Terkmen capital.
Members of Amnesty International quickly sprang into action, calling the attention of the international community to the situation of Nuryagdy Gairov. "The Jehovah's Witnesses are grateful for such intensive action which helped him to receive freedom," a representative of Jehovah's Witnesses told the organization.
However on 26 July Amnesty International learned about another conscientious objector; a charge of "refusal of a summons to military service" was leveled against Suleiman Udaev. Judicial investigation of his case will be held on 3 August. He faces a prison term of up to two years.
As far as is known, the situations of 20-year-old Bairam Ashirgeldiev and 27-year-old Alexander Zuev, about whom earlier reports were given, are unchanged.
Amnesty International recommends that as soon as possible people send appeals to Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov expressing alarm that Suleiman Udaev has been charged with "refusal of a summons to military service" when he refused to serve in the army on the basis of conscientious convictions. Participants in the action are advised also to support Amnesty International's call for removing the probationary sentence with regard to conscientious objectors Nuryagdy Gairov, Bairam Ashirgeldiev, and Alexander Zuev and to appeal to Turkmen authorities for joining in adoption of a law that will permit the performance of alternative civil service for all those who, on the basis of their conscientious conviction, cannot perform military service, at the same time that the performance of alternative service should not be equated with a punishment.
We recall that Amnesty International considers as a prisoner of conscience any person detained or deprived of liberty exclusively for refusal to serve in the army on the basis of conscientious convictions, and it calls for immediate and unconditional release of such persons. (tr. by PDS, posted 28 July 2007)
From Amnesty International
Turkmenistan: Further information on Prisoners of conscienceBayram Ashirgeldiev (m), aged 20
Nuryagdy Gairov (m), aged 27
Aleksandr Zuev (m), aged 27
New name: Suleiman Udaev (m)
Nuryagdy Gairov was released on 23 July. Suleiman Udaev has reportedly been charged with "evasion of call-up to military service" and is awaiting trial on 3 August. The situation of Bayram Ashirgeldiev and Aleksandr Zuev is believed to be unchanged.
The prosecution had reportedly appealed against Nuryagdy GairovÕs prison sentence on the grounds that it was "too harsh". On 23 July Ashgabat city court reportedly changed his 18-month prison sentence to a suspended sentence of one year. He was released that evening from Yashlyk prison, some 40km southeast of the capital, Ashgabat.
A JehovahÕs Witnesses spokesman told Amnesty International on 26 July: "Members of Amnesty International acted promptly to draw international attention to the plight of Nuryagdy Gairov and Jehovah's Witnesses are grateful that such swift action has helped to bring about his freedom."
Amnesty International learnt on 26 July that Suleiman Udaev was charged with "evasion of call-up to military service" after refusing to serve in the army on conscientious grounds. Reportedly, he will stand trial on 3 August. He faces up to two yearsÕ imprisonment.
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