Almost 18 months after he was arrested in August 2010 in Turkmenistan, Pastor Ilmurad Nurliev was released from a labor camp as part of a group of 230 prisoners who were granted amnesty on 18 February. "He and the other prisoners were transported by a special police train to Mary and we rushed to the station to receive him," his wife Maya told Forum 18 News Service. "His release was so unexpected that we forgot to buy flowers. I have no words to express how happy we are." In October 2010 he was sentenced to four years in prison for fraud.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me
Members of his congregation maintained that the charges were fabricated to punish him for leading an unregistered church. Pastor Nurliev only got the news of his release the night before. "I want to thank you and everyone else who supported me and helped with my release," he told Forum 18. He will still be subject to restrictions and must report to the police every week.
The seventh amnesty - we finally succeeded
Pastor Nurliev was released from the labor camp near Seydi along with the other pardoned prisoners at 2pm on February 18. His release was part of a general amnesty ordered by the President on the occasion of Flag Day on February 19. "This was the seventh time an amnesty was granted - and finally it was successful. We read on the internet that his name was on the list of those who had been pardoned," Maya Nurliev told Forum 18. The train carrying the released prisoners arrived at 8am at the station in Mary, and Maya and other members of her family turned up to be reunited with Pastor Ilmurad. "Members of the church have been to our home to celebrate my release," says Pastor Nurliev on February 20. "I would like to thank everyone who has supported me and helped with my release."
The 46-year-old Nurliev, who is married and has a daughter and two grandchildren, is a pastor. He was banned from leaving the country in 2007 when his church failed to obtain permission to be registered by the state. In a police raid on his home in February 2009, approximately 225 Christian DVDs and tapes were confiscated. They were never returned.
Nurliev was arrested in August 2010 and was convicted at the Mary District Court on October 21, 2010 on charges of fraud. He received a sentence of four years in a labor camp with "forced medication". His congregation maintains that the charges were fabricated to punish him for his religious activities. In December 2010, he was transferred to the labor camp in Seydi.
No Bible
Pastor Nurliev told Forum 18 that conditions in the labor camp were "not so bad". He said that apart from the first ten days in solitary confinement after his arrival at the camp, he was not punished with further solitary confinement.
Nurliev suffers from diabetes, but he said he was allowed to get both tablets and injections during his stay in the camp. "They passed on the medicine that my wife brought to me."
However, during the 18 months he was in the camp, he was not allowed to have a Bible with him. "When I saw that the Muslim imams in Seydi were allowed to have copies of the Koran, I went to the head of the labor camp," Nurliev told Forum 18. "But he said I couldn't have a Bible. He didn't give any explanation."
He thanked those who have written to him during his stay in the camp. "They showed me that I had not been forgotten."
Restrictions
Pastor Nurliev got his identification papers back upon his release. But he still has to report to the police every Saturday night. He doesn't know if there will be any other restrictions beyond that. His diploma from a theological course he took in Ukraine and the papers from his ordination as a priest, which also took place in Ukraine, were confiscated in August 2010 when he was arrested. He has not gotten them back. Officials told him after his release that if he wants the papers back, he must apply to the court in Mary. It is still unclear whether Pastor Nurliev is still on the list of those who cannot leave the country, as he has been since 2007. "I have to go to Ashgabad and ask the authorities about that. I plan to do that."
Registration system designed to ensure tight government control
Pastor Nurliev's church is one of the many religious communities from a wide range of faiths that have been denied registration. In violation of the country's international human rights obligations, the authorities maintain that only state-registered religious communities are allowed to exist.
"We first applied for registration in February 2007, and after we were told to change our application, we applied again in January 2010," says Pastor Nurliev. "But the documents are still there in Ashgabad and we haven't received any response."
Source: Forum 18 News Service, which Dansk co-founded and is involved in the management of
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