once again put under surveillance, BosNewsLife learned Monday, January 28. Atakov (39), who was freed January 8 after more than three years in jails and labor camps, has been warned not to associate with his fellow Baptists and remains under close surveillance by the country’s feared political police said Keston News Service.
The Keston News Service (KNS), which closely monitors religious persecution, quoted local Baptists as saying that "each day an officer makes a visit allegedly to ‘wish him well’." Atakov has still not received a certificate of release from prison, which human rights workers say makes the situation even more bizarre.
POLITICAL POLICE
Two officers of the political police from Turkmenistan’s Capital Ashgabad reportedly visited Atakov January 21 at his home in the small town of Kaakhka, near the country’s southern border with Iran.
The German-based Friedensstimme Mission said the two officers stayed for about an hour and warned him "not to meet with his fellow believers."
They apparently also tried to find out the number of Baptist believers in Turkmenistan and about visits by foreigners. Atakov has been accused of swindling and forging documents, but congregation members say the charges were instigated to obstruct his activities with the church.
CASE WATCHED
His case has been closely watched by Christians around the world and institutions such as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Human rights activists fear there may be new problems awaiting Atakov and his wife and 5 children.
There is concern that religious persecution will again intensify in the mainly Islamic former Soviet Republic, which gained independence in 1991.
Analysts suggest the situation is made difficult by the fact that Turkmenistan, a country of just over 4 million people, effectively remained a one-party state, despite a new constitution.
