E/CN.4/2005/61/Add.1 Page 70 271. On 20 August 2004, an officer of the criminal investigation department reportedly went to the Balkanabad home of Nikolai Matsenko, a Baptist who was the subject of a previous communication sent to the Government on 16 March 2004. After questioning him about the Church's activities, the officer allegedly warned him that if any further services took place in his apartment he would be fined. Later that evening, another police officer went to his house, presenting himself as the new local policeman and saying that he had come to get to know him. At 11 p.m. the following evening, a group of people knocked on his door. One of them introduced himself as the local policeman, although he was not the same man as the previous day. Since Mr. Matsenko did not open the door, they reportedly threatened him and then left. 272. Bahá’ís. Reports indicated that, despite the Bahá’ís new registration in Ashgabad, the authorities had prevented the group from renting places for meetings. On 15 August 2004, the group reported that a secret government order bans registered religious and civic groups from opening accounts at any of Ashgabad's banks, while the new registration rules required a bank account for all financial transactions. 273. Jehovah’s Witnesses. On 9 September 2004, Suren Gasparyan, aged 70, and Smbat Safaryan, two Jehovah's Witnesses who were discussing their faith with others near Ashgabad, were reportedly arrested by an officer of the sixth department of the NSM secret police, which investigates terrorism and organized crime. When the NSM found that they were from Ashgabad, they were taken to the sixth department in the capital where they were allegedly verbally abused and humiliated. It was further reported that one officer fired his gun at a door, in an attempt to frighten them. Mr. Safaryan and Mr. Gasparyan were reportedly freed in the early afternoon after they were forced to write statements and were asked to return the next day with photographs of themselves. 274. On 6 September 2004, local police raided the home of Rodion Rogov in Turkmenbashy, seizing his personal Bible and copies of other Jehovah's Witnesses publications. Although the police promised to return the publications within two days, they came back five days later and confiscated another Bible from Mr. Rogov, ordering him to come to the city administration. Reports indicated that when he complied with this order on 12 September 2004, Mr. Rogov was subjected to further pressure and his literature was not returned. 275. On 5 September 2004, Gulsherin Babakulieva, a Jehovah's Witness, was assaulted and threatened with rape by two public prosecutors. According to the information received, she was arrested by an NSM secret police officer, together with fellow Jehovah's Witness Gulkamar Jumayeva, as they were discussing their faith with others. They were both taken to the Gagarin district police station and forced to give written statements. They were transferred to the city's second police station at 3 p.m. and required to present their identity documents. At 11 p.m., Ms. Babakulieva was ordered to go to the office of the deputy prosecutor, who was allegedly drunk and threatened her with rape and hit her violently several times on the head. An assistant prosecutor allegedly threatened that he would rape her as well and would then dress her as a shahid (suicide bomber) in order to accuse her of being a terrorist. A duty police officer reportedly saved Ms. Babakulieva from being taken away in the assistant prosecutor's car. Gulsherin Babakulieva and Gulkamar Jumayeva were