Turkmenistan: political prisoner Gundogdyev died in prison

According to independent media of Turkmenistan, on December 28, at the age of 64, a Turkmen political prisoner Yazgeldy Gundogdyev died in the colony AH-K/6 of the city of Tejen in Akhal region.

He was charged with complicity in the attempted coup d’état on November 25, 2002. Unable to withstand the torture in the investigative isolation ward, Gundogdyev was forced to criminate himself and confess against himself. On January 21, 2003, the city court of Ashgabat sentenced Yazgeldy Gundogdyev to 25 years in prison.

After the trial, there was no contact with him during 17 years; there was no information about him and his location. The name of Yazgeldy Gundogdyev was included in the list of forcibly disappeared people in the prisons of Turkmenistan by the international campaign “Prove They Are Alive!”.

Prior to his arrest, Gundogdyev served as head of Dashoguz region, being in charge of the International Department of the President’s Office; he was the chief adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Boris Shikhmuradov.