Trial of conscientious objector Begench Shakhmuradov
Use this form to send the letter below to the relevant authority (Rashid Meredov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan). You can add your own notes in a separate box after the standard text, if you wish. You must include a name, address, and email address; a copy will be sent to you with a cc to the WRI office (so we have a record of how many email letters have been sent out for this particular case).
Dear Minister Rashid Meredov
I am very concerned about the recent arrests of conscientious objectors in Turkmenistan, and particulary about the trial of Begench Shakhmuradov, scheduled for 10 September.
Begench Shakhmuradov already spent time in prison as a conscientious objector in 2005, and had been released on 16 April 2005 following a presidential decree. The new trial and subsequent prison sentence is therefore not only a violation of Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantees the right to conscientious objection, but also a violation of the international legal standard of double jeopardy - that nobody should be put on trial again for a "crime" for which he had already been tried and sentenced once.
Turkmenistan is a party to the ICCPR. As such, it is bound by the standards set out in the Covenant. I want to bring to your attention the decision of the Human Rights Committee on two cases of conscientious objectors from South Korea. In its decision, the Committee clarifies that not to provide for the right to conscientious objection is a violation of Article 18 of the ICCPR (CCPR/C/88/D/1321-1322/2004, 23 January 2007). This also applies to Turkmenistan.
I therefore urge you to immediately release all imprisoned conscientious objectors, and to follow the UN recommendations. I urge you to respect human rights.
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