Political Freedom
Any opposition to the government is considered treason and punishable by life imprisonment. Turkmenistan has many political prisoners, the most well-known of whom are Batyr Berdiýew, Ýazgeldi Gündogdyýew, and Boris Şyhmyradow. They are not granted any access by the International Red Cross, OSCE, ar any medical institutions. There are several rumours of their deaths, but these cannot be confirmed, and most of their whereabouts are unknown.
In 2009, Muhammertguly Aýmyradow was freed after he completed his sentence.
Gulgeldy Annaniyazov an opposition leader to Niazov's government, was arrested in 1995 and released in 1999 after a presidential amnesty decree. He moved to Norway to live with a refugee status. Back in Turkmenistan he was arrested in June 2008 and sentenced after a closed-door trial to 11 years in jail. The accusations are still unknown. Similarly, Ovezgeldy Ataev former Speaker of Parliament and Akmurad Redzhepov, former head of the State Security Council had closed-door trials and remains in prison. Amnesty International suspects that the reason for the imprisonments lies in the fact that both were potential political rivals of the current President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.
Andrey Zatoka, environmentalist and activist, citizen of Turkmenistan and Russia was arrested on false charges for 46 days from December 2006 to January 2007. Due to international pressure Andrey was released and the sentence was canceled. In June 2008, Andrey wrote a statement reporting that his and his friends' liberty could be in danger. He was being monitored and followed by the Turkmen Authorities. On October 20, 2009, Andrey was arrested for the second time and sentenced to 5 years in prison for assault. In November 2009, after international pressure from environmental and human rights organisations and Russian authorities, Zatoka was released upon payment of a fine, relinquishing his Turkmen citizenship and immediate emigration from Turkmenistan.
Read more about this topic: Human Rights In Turkmenistan
Famous quotes containing the words political and/or freedom:
“Reason is a faculty far larger than mere objective force. When either the political or the scientific discourse announces itself as the voice of reason, it is playing God, and should be spanked and stood in the corner.”
—Ursula K. Le Guin (b. 1929)
“to fasten into order enlarging grasps of disorder, widening
scope, but enjoying the freedom that
Scope eludes my grasp, that there is no finality of vision,
that I have perceived nothing completely,
that tomorrow a new walk is a new walk.”
—Archie Randolph Ammons (b. 1926)