In Turkmenistan, human rights defenders demand to release people from prisons

The international campaign “Show them Alive!” has circulated an appeal to the President of Turkmenistan demanding the release of citizens from prisons whose sentences have ended.

Human rights activists in their appeal note that for over 17 years enforced disappearances in prisons have continued in Turkmenistan. “Hundreds of people became victims of disappearances. Violent detention in complete isolation from the outside world is a gross violation of the country’s national legislation and Turkmenistan’s international obligations; it’s a crime against human rights,” the statement said.

The international campaign “Show them Alive!” has documented over 120 cases of disappearance in prisons. In prisons, where the missing people are kept, the inhuman conditions have been created corresponding to torture. At least 27 of these people died in custody.

“The real number of missing people in prisons and deaths in isolation over the years is certainly much higher. People now continue to disappear in prisons after arrest and are kept in complete isolation. No one has access to them; neither relatives, nor lawyers, nor representatives of international organizations. Their fate is unknown, and no one knows if they are alive or not. Relatives of the disappeared people are also tortured by the unknown,” human rights activists say.

According to the campaign “Show them Alive!”, currently a whole group of people from the missing list have already ended their prison sentences or will end in the next two years. Among these prisoners are Esen Buriev (term was expired in 2017), Isa Garataev (2017), Bazar Gurbanov (2018), Annageldy Akmuradov (2019), Mamur Ataev (2019), Konstantin Shikhmuradov (2019), Rustem Dzhumaev (2020), Saparmurat Muhammedov (2020), Batyr Sardzhaev (no later than 2020), Orazmammet Yklymov (2021), Ovezmurat Yazmuradov (2021).

In its appeal, the campaign called on the Turkmen leader to use all his powers to comply with the norms of national law and Turkmenistan’s international obligations, to show humanity and to ensure unconditional and unimpeded release of prisoners from the list of missing persons who ended their sentences, and in the event of the death of any of them, immediately inform the families of the missing people and give them the opportunity to say goodbye to their relatives according to national customs. The campaign hopes that the President Berdymukhamedov will take positive steps in the near future to resolve this important problem.

“Particular attention is required to the situation of the imprisoned civil activist Gulgeldy Annaniyazov. Until March 2019, the authorities of Turkmenistan kept him in complete isolation in prison during 11 years, referring to a court sentence that no one had seen, including the prisoner’s family. Annaniyazov’s imprisonment lasted all these years despite the fact that his sentence has long expired, according to changes in legislation adopted in 2010”, human rights activists say. “In March 2019, Annaniyazov was transferred from prison to internal exile for a period of 5 years in the village of Karabogaz with very difficult living conditions. His relatives were able to see him only once. Annaniyazov must be immediately released from exile and given the opportunity to reunite with his wife and son living in Norway.”

Human rights activists emphasize that the international community should continue to monitor closely this situation and demand that the Turkmen authorities take real action to stop enforced disappearances, and any international cooperation with the authorities of Turkmenistan should be determined by the solution to the problem of missing people in Turkmen prisons.