See and discuss BONHOEFFER DVD/Conscientious objector Navruz Nasyrlaev sentenced to two years in prison

The Hiroshima-Nagasaki Commemoration Committee is hosting its latest FILM & SOCIAL CONSCIOUSNESS DVD SERIES. The theme is Seeking the Truth Through Documentaries.   The second film in the series is BONHOEFFER [USA, 2003], and it will be shown on Fri., Feb. 26 at my house.  Call or email me for directions at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski and verizon.net.

 

 Director/writer Martin Doblmeier made this documentary of the dramatic story of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the young German theologian who offered one of the first clear voices of resistance to Adolf Hitler. Bonhoeffer openly challenged his church to stand with the Jews in their time of need, and eventually joined his family in the plots to kill Hitler. The film, shot on location in Germany and the United States, features interviews with family members, friends, students and associates who knew Bonhoeffer, including the last interview given by Bonhoeffer's closest friend and biographer, Eberhard Bethge, and an interview with Ruth Alice von Bismarck, the sister of Bonhoeffer's fiancée, Maria von Wedemeyer.

 

Doors open at 7 PM, and the DVD starts at 7:30 PM.  There is no charge, and refreshments will be available.  A discussion will follow.

 

TURKMENISTAN: Conscientious objector Navruz Nasyrlaev sentenced to two years in prison

10 Feb 2010 — warresisters

 

Alert:

 

War Resisters' International learned in February that Turkmen conscientious objector Navruz Nasyrlaev has been sentenced to two years imprisonment for refusal to serve on 7 December 2009.

 

Forum 18 News reports: Nasyrlaev, the son of a baptised Jehovah's Witness who has not yet himself been baptised, is from the northern town of Dashoguz. He was called up in March 2009 on reaching the age of 18, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18, but on three occasions refused to serve in the army because of his beliefs. A criminal case was lodged against him and he was tried on 7 December 2009 at Dashoguz City Court. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in a general regime labour camp.

 

With the arrest and sentencing of Navruz Nasyrlaev, in total five conscientious objectors are serving prison sentences in Turkmenistan: Sakhetmurad Annamamedov, Mukhammedmurad Annamamedov, Shadurdi Ushotov, Akmurat Egendurdiev, and Navruz Nasyrlaev. Three more are serving non-custodial sentences - one of which will be completed in the course of this month.

Vladimir Golosenko, who is from the Caspian port city of Turkmenbashi [Türkmenbashy, formerly Krasnovodsk], was sentenced in February 2008 to two years' forced labour. He is not in prison, but 20 percent of his wages go to the state. His sentence is due to end shortly.

 

Zafar Abdullaev was given a two-year suspended sentence by Dashoguz City Court in April 2009. He is currently living at home. Later that month the same court also handed down a two-year suspended sentence to Dovran Kushmanov. He has to report weekly to the police.

 

The right to refuse military service is part of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion guaranteed by Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Turkmenistan acceded in 1997. It is also part of Turkmenistan's Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) human dimension commitments.

Turkmenistan's report to the UN Human Rights Committee under the ICCPR, submitted on 11 January, contains just one sentence on alternative service, only to dismiss it (see report CCPR/C/TKM1 at

 

http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/CCPR.C.TKM.1_ru.doc - in Russian). "The laws of Turkmenistan make no provision for alternative service," the sentence in Paragraph 337 declares bluntly. It gives no explanation or amplification.

 

War Resisters' International calls for letters of support to the four imprisoned conscientious objectors:

 

Shaduri Ushotov

Akmurat Egendurdiev

Sakhetmurad Annamamedov

Mukhammedmurad Annamamedov

 

Navruz Nasyrlaev

Seydi Labour Camp

Turkmenistan

746222 Lebap vilayet

Seydi

uchr. LB-K/12

 

War Resisters' International calls for the protest letters to the Turkmen authorities, and Turkmen embassies abroad.

 

Kurbanguly BERDYMUHAMMEDOV

President of Turkmenistan

Apparat Prezidenta

744000 Ashgabat

TURKMENISTAN

Fax: +993 12 355112

 

Rashid Meredov

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Magtymkuli ave., 85

744000 Ashgabat

Email mfatm@online.tm

 

A protest email can be sent at http://wri-irg.org/node/9641.

 

War Resisters' International calls for the immediate cancellation of the sentences of Navruz Nasyrlaev, Shaduri Ushotov, Akmurat Egendurdiev, Sakhetmurad Annamamedov, Mukhammedmurad Annamamedov and of all other imprisoned conscientious objectors.

 

Andreas Speck

War Resisters' International

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs