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:
“In bourgeois society, the French and the industrial revolution transformed the authorization of political space. The political revolution put an end to the formalized hierarchy of the ancien regimé.... Concurrently, the industrial revolution subverted the social hierarchy upon which the old political space was based. It transformed the experience of society from one of vertical hierarchy to one of horizontal class stratification.”
—Donald M. Lowe, U.S. historian, educator. History of Bourgeois Perception, ch. 4, University of Chicago Press (1982)
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