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[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

January 20, 2002
Adventist Press Service (APD)
Christian B. Schaeffler, Editor-in-chief
Fax +41-61-261 61 18
APD@stanet.ch
http://www.stanet.ch/APD
CH-4003 Basel, Switzerland
Turkmenistan: Woman Evicted for Religious Meetings Faces
Uncertain Future

Turkmenabad, Turkmenistan.     A Seventh-day
Adventist Church member, evicted from her home in
Turkmenabad, Turkmenistan, for holding religious
gatherings, is making her way to Siberia, Russia, to stay
with relatives while she considers her future. Maryam
Ismakaeva, made homeless late December by order of
city authorities, met with Adventist Church leaders in
Moscow last week to discuss the situation in Turkmenistan.

Victor Krushenitsky, public affairs and religious liberty
director for the Adventist Church in Euro-Asia, says
Ismakaeva's eviction is in line with the Turkmen
government's policy of systematic repression of
religious minorities.

"It was such sad news from the Seventh-day Adventist
Church in Turkmenistan when our church building was
demolished in November 1999," he says. "Our group of
about 10 people in the city of Turkmenabad has been under
oppression for the past five to six years. Several times
our members have been arrested, their literature and tapes
have been confiscated, and they have been fined for
meeting together from time to time, which does not violate
the law.

"Suffering the most among this group was Maryam
Ismakaeva, whose apartment was used for such meetings,"
adds Krushenitsky.

In its decision of December 21, 2001, the city court
accuses Ismakaeva of holding illegal religious meetings
of the Adventist sect as well as spreading propaganda for
the Adventist religious organization. Krushenitsky says the
prosecutor forced some of her neighbors and apartment
complex management officials to support the idea of
evicting Ismakaeva because she had used her apartment for
"an improper purpose."

Describing Ismakaeva as "very depressed," Krushenitsky
says, "We need to use all measures to protect her and other
members of the group who are afraid even to meet with one
another."

In December last year the public affairs and religious
liberty department of the Adventist world church issued a
statement condemning the anti-religion activity of the
Turkmen government, which has included "arbitrary detention
and imprisonment, exile and deportation, the destruction of
houses of worship, the confiscation of personal property,
the imposition of punitive fines, the loss of employment,
[and] mental and physical abuse."