CCPR/C/115/D/2223/2012
The facts as submitted by the author
2.1
The author is a Jehovah’s Witness. He has never been charged with a criminal or
administrative offence other than his criminal conviction for refusing to perform
compulsory military service.
2.2
In December 2008, he was called by the Military Commissariat to perform his
compulsory military service. After a medical examination he was declared fit to serve. He
was supposed to join the army on 12 December 2008. Prior to that date, he had explained in
writing in a letter addressed to the Military Commissariat that as a Jehovah’s Witness, his
religious beliefs did not permit him to perform military service. The Military Commissariat
turned the case over to the prosecutor’s office. The author met with the prosecutor in an
attempt to explain his position. He was told that he would be prosecuted.
2.3
On 23 November 2010, the author was arrested and handed over to the prosecutor’s
office for refusing to perform military service. He was not allowed to see his relatives
before his trial. He was taken into custody and kept at the Department of Internal Affairs,
where he was treated in a manner contrary to his human dignity and was abused. In
addition, he was later put in a punishment cell for 18 days.
2.4
On 14 December 2010, he was tried before the Turkmenabat City Court. At his trial
the author explained in detail why he could not perform military service. The court
nevertheless convicted him under article 219 (1) of the Criminal Code and sentenced him to
18 months’ imprisonment, to be served in a general regime penitentiary.
2.5
Following his trial, the author was kept in a “24-hour detention cell”1 for 17 days.
On 1 January 2011, he was transferred to the LBK-12 prison near the town of Seydi.
Immediately upon his arrival at the prison, he was placed in quarantine for 10 days. The
authorities allowed relatives to visit him once every two months but, contrary to the rules,
did not allow him to see friends. Like the other prisoners, the author slept in a pea coat
because of the cold; the prison was also very hot in the summer. While he was in prison the
author contracted tuberculosis. On 8 May 2012, the author was released from prison, but
faces the prospect of again being called up for military service and again being sentenced
and imprisoned.
2.6
In relation to the alleged violation of his rights under article 18 (1) of the Covenant,
the author submits that the national courts have never ruled in favour of a conscientious
objector to military service. He thus maintains that he has exhausted the available domestic
remedies concerning the alleged violation of article 18 (1) of the Covenant. As to the
alleged violation of article 7 of the Covenant, the author maintains that there is no effective
domestic remedy available to him to seek redress.
The complaint
3.1
The author claims that his imprisonment because of his religious beliefs in itself
constituted inhuman or degrading treatment within the meaning of article 7 of the
Covenant.
3.2
He further claims a violation of article 7 of the Covenant on the basis of the
conditions at the LBK-12 prison. In this regard, he refers, inter alia, to the report of
February 2010 of the Turkmenistan Independent Lawyers Association, which notes that the
LBK-12 prison is located in a desert, where temperatures reach -20° Celsius winter and 50°
degrees in summer. The prison is overcrowded and prisoners infected with tuberculosis and
skin diseases are kept together with healthy inmates. Although the author does not invoke it
1
No further information was provided by the author regarding the cell in question or its exact location.
3