PUBLIC AI Index: EUR 61/022/2007

14 September 2007

Further Information on UA 174/07 (EUR 61/015/2007, 05 July 2007) and follow-ups (EUR 61/016/2007, 23 July 2007; EUR 61/017/2007, 26 July 2007; EUR 61/019/2007, 14 August 2007) – Prisoners of conscience

TURKMENISTAN Bayram Ashirgeldiev (m), aged 20

Nuryagdy Gairov (m), aged 27

Aleksandr Zuev (m), aged 27

Suleiman Udaev (m), aged 24

Jehovah's Witness Suleiman Udaev has been released; the appeal court had reportedly commuted his 18-month prison sentence for "evasion of call-up to military service" to a two-year suspended sentence on 11 September.

Suleiman Udaev is now back at home in a village some 100km from the city of Mary, in the east of the country.

Although he is out of prison, his release is apparently dependent on a number of conditions: he has to pay 20 percent of his wages to the state, and has to apply for official permission when he wants to travel outside the district where he lives.

Bayram Ashirgeldiev, Nuryagdy Gairov and Aleksandr Zuev, who were released in July, are now known to be subject to similar conditions, including restrictions on their freedom of movement. They are not allowed to leave the town where they live without special permission, and they are subject to a 10pm curfew. "They are treated like criminals," a Jehovah’s Witness source in the capital, Ashgabat, told Amnesty International.

No further action is requested from the UA network. Many thanks to all who sent appeals. Amnesty International will continue to campaign for the conditions imposed on the four men to be lifted.********