A/55/280 eventually beaten because of his refusal to comply. On 22 June 1999, he was reportedly sentenced by the Gyzylarbat court to 12 days’ administrative detention for insulting the members of the National Security Committee. On 23 July 1999, Annamammedov Yazmammed is said to have been sentenced to 10 days’ administrative detention, again because of his refusal to yield to the pressure of the National Security Committee. This scenario was apparently repeated on 7 October 1999. On 19 October 1999, the wife of Annamammedov Yazmammed was allegedly arrested by the National Security Committee in order to force her to sign a declaration of renunciation of the Jehovah’s Witness faith. 49. On 14 November 1999, in Ashgabat, the authorities are reported to have ordered the demolition of the only Seventh Day Adventist church in Turkmenistan. It appears that this congregation was registered in 1992 and obtained permission to build its church from the President of Turkmenistan. However, following the revision of the Act on religion in 1997 (making registration of a congregation conditional on the number of its members, the requirement being 500), this community was apparently stripped of its official status. Despite several attempts, the Adventists were reportedly unable to obtain the re-registration of their community. 50. It is alleged, that on 14 November 1999, the National Security Committee ordered a raid on the Baptist congregation of the Council of Evangelical Baptist Churches during the Sunday sermon. On 13 February 2000, the same committee reportedly interrupted a private religious meeting organized by the Baptist pastor Vitaly Tereshnev, on the grounds that this meeting was illegal. The pastor was apparently fined and his passport confiscated. On 2 February 2000, the Baptist pastor Anatoly Belyayev is said to have been arrested by members of the National Security Committee while he was peacefully performing his religious activities. On 11 March 2000, this pastor and his family were reportedly deported to Moscow. On 13 March 2000, the Senkin and Shulgin families, active members of the Baptist congregation of the town of Mary, are also alleged to have been deported. 51. In March 2000, the Protestant pastor Shokhrat Piriyev was reportedly forced to leave Ashgabat on the pretext that his residence permit was not valid. 12 52. In addition, it is reported that no civilian alternative to military service is provided for conscientious objectors, who are apparently liable to imprisonment under the Penal Code. Turkey 53. On 1 March 2000, two Christians (originally Muslims who converted to Christianity), Necati Aydin and Ercan Sengul, members of the Izmir Fellowship of Jesus Christ, are said to have been arrested as they sold and distributed Bibles and other Christian literature in Kemalpasa, near Izmir. The prosecutor reportedly accused them of forcing people to accept the Bibles and of insulting Islam. It seems the local mufti submitted a report to the prosecutor explaining that the material confiscated from the two Christians did not contain any anti-Islamic elements. However, it was apparently emphasized that passages in Aydin’s personal notebook concerning the meaning of “Allah” and “Jehovah” and other names for God were the essence of falsehood and slander against religion. These arrests reportedly occurred one day after the broadcast on channel D, on Ugur Dundar’s Arena show, of a television programme on Christian missionary sects. This programme appears to have propagated the message that Christianity is a threat. 54. Turkey replied that, according to the information transmitted by the Ministry of Justice, Mr. Aydin and Mr. Sengul had been acquitted, on 11 May 2000, by the Kemalpasa criminal court. *** 55. The replies by States to the communications sent in the context of the report submitted to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-sixth session are set out below. Azerbaijan 56. With regard to the case of the Jehovah’s Witness Ibrahim Ikrameddin Oglu Yuzbekov (see document E/CN.4/2000/65, para. 13), the Government of Azerbaijan explained, inter alia, that: Based on information received by the police station in Khachmas district, on 9 August 1999, concerning the illegal religious activities of I. Yuzbekov, the services of the Ministry of the Interior began an investigation. In the course of