TURKMENISTAN: Jailed Krishna devotee sent to labour camp

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http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=754

 

TURKMENISTAN: Jailed Krishna devotee sent to labour camp

 

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>

 

Shortly after her failed appeal against her seven year jail sentence for

illegally crossing the border - charges her supporters reject - Hare Krishna

devotee Cheper Annaniyazova was transferred from the women's prison in the

capital Ashgabad to the women's labour camp in Dashoguz in northern

Turkmenistan, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Work in the labour camp is

reported to be hard, while bribery to escape the worst work is rampant. Even

acquiring a decent place to sleep requires bribes. Annaniyazova's state of

health and situation in the labour camp remains unknown. Meanwhile, the

Russian Orthodox church in Dashoguz, the only Orthodox place of worship in

northern Turkmenistan, still cannot complete construction of a new church

begun some years ago. Officials are questioning the parish's right to use

the land, while the church's registration application has been denied.

 

 

Jailed Hare Krishna devotee Cheper Annaniyazova was finally transferred from

the women's prison in the capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat] to the women's labour

camp in Dashoguz [Dashhowuz] on 23 January, Forum 18 News Service has

learned. The transfer – which had long been expected - occurred within days

of her failed bid to have her seven-year prison sentence overturned at an

appeal hearing at the Ashgabad city court in mid-January. Her state of

health and conditions in the labour camp remain unknown.

 

The labour camp in Dashoguz in northern Turkmenistan close to the border

with Uzbekistan is the only one for women in the country. Its address is:

Dashoguz, ulica Ilyalinskaya, Zhenskaya Koloniya DZ-K/8, Turkmenistan.

 

The exile Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation reported last December that the

camp has six barracks housing prisoners (though many have to sleep in the

open air), as well as a work area with a brick factory, sewing and wool

workshops and a bakery. It noted that bribery is rampant as a way for

prisoners to escape the harshest work. "Those that don't pay have to carry

out the heaviest work in the industrial zone," the group reported. It said

the most hazardous work is cleaning wool. Even acquiring a decent place to

sleep requires bribes. The group said the camp also has a closed section

with about 400 high-profile prisoners, including former top officials who

have fallen from favour. It remains unknown in which part of the camp

Annaniyazova is housed.

 

Annaniyazova, who was born in 1968 and was one of the first people in

Turkmenistan to become a Hare Krishna devotee, was accused under three

charges, two of which related to illegally crossing the border three years

ago when she went to Kazakhstan to live at the Hare Krishna temple in Almaty

(see F18News 17 November 2005

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=690).

 

The third accusation was, sources told Forum 18, not made public at the

trial in November 2005 and the extra sentence imposed in the wake of the

accusation was likewise not made public, though the sentence she received

exceeds the maximum penalty possible under the known accusations. It is

thought within Turkmenistan that the heavy sentence was imposed at the

behest of the MSS (Ministry of State Security) secret police, in order to

intimidate the Hare Krishna community (see F18News 5 December 2005

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=699).

 

Despite a reluctance by the court to give out its verdict in writing as it

is supposed to do (courts in Turkmenistan rarely give out written verdicts,

especially in sensitive cases), Annaniyazova was able to challenge the

verdict on appeal, but this was unsuccessful (see F18News 10 February 2006

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=725).

 

After former chief mufti Nasrullah ibn Ibadullah was sentenced to 22 years'

imprisonment in March 2004 at a closed trial in Ashgabad, the Turkmen

government refused repeated international requests to make the verdict

public (see F18News 8 March 2004

http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=271).

 

Meanwhile, the exile Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights reported in March

that the Russian Orthodox Church has been unable to complete its new church

under construction in Dashoguz. The group said the foundation and walls are

only partly built and work has been stopped for more than a year. The group

added that the parish previously had registration with the Adalat (Fairness

or Justice) Ministry, but this was revoked in the wake of the 2003 new

religion law and the parish has been unable to regain it. The authorities

question the parish's right to use the land, but have not obstructed worship

in a portakabin, the only Orthodox place of worship in northern

Turkmenistan.