Tajikistan's Jehovah's Witness community intends to appeal
to the Supreme Court against fines imposed on two of their members on 24 April
by a court in the town of Tursun-Zade, 60 kilometres (35 miles) west of the
capital Dushanbe, a Jehovah's Witness from Dushanbe who asked not to be
identified told Forum 18 News Service. The two Jehovah's Witnesses, Grigori
Putenkov and Sukhrob Maksudov, were fined for leading a religious meeting in a
private flat in Tursun-Zade which was raided by the police. The judge who
handed down the fine, Davlatbek Zabirov, defended his decision, telling Forum
18 that the punishment was in line with the law, which bans teaching religion
without official approval.
On 20 April several police officers raided the flat where around 40 local
Jehovah's Witnesses were holding a religious meeting. The police officers told
all those present to write statements. Putenkov and Maksudov, were taken to the
town's police station, where officers started to insult them and struck
Putenkov several times. The police released the two men after about an hour,
telling them that they would receive a court summons very shortly.
On 24 April judge Zabirov of Tursun-Zade court sentenced Putenkov and Maksudov
each to a fine of five times the minimum monthly wage (some 57 Norwegian
kroner, 8 Euros or 8 US dollars) on the basis of Article 211, part 2 of the
administrative code, which punishes "violation of the law on giving
religious instruction". Zabirov also declared that no more than two
Jehovah's Witnesses have the right to meet together at any one time "as
the community is not registered in Tursun-Zade".
Judge Zabirov strongly defended the punishment he had handed down. "The
Jehovah's Witness community is not registered in Tursun-Zade. But that is not
the issue," he told Forum 18 by telephone from the town on 24 April.
"According to Tajikistan's law on religion, no-one is allowed to give
religious instruction without a licence. The punishment for this is set down in
article 211, part 2. Thus, when I pronounced the sentence, I was working
strictly within the law."
Under Article 6 of the religion law, only registered religious organisations
can organise education for adults and children, and all teachers require a
licence from the "appropriate religious administration". The
Jehovah's Witnesses are registered in Dushanbe.
Zabirov also said that he did not know anything about the police insulting the
two Jehovah's Witnesses or beating Putenkov.
Speaking from Solnechnoe near the Russian city of St Petersburg, Canadian
Jehovah's Witness lawyer John Burns told Forum 18 that he intends to lodge the
Supreme Court appeal on behalf of Putenkov and Maksudov, arguing that the
religion law does not make registration obligatory and the evidence to show
that the two men were engaged in "religious instruction" is not
compelling.