Turkmenistan

Amangelen Shapudakov, an 80-year-old activist, has been confined to a psychiatric hospital after accusing a local government official of corruption in an interview for Radio Azatlyq, the Turkmen-language service of Radio Free Europe (RFE), one of the few independent media still operating in Turkmenistan. “The inhuman and arbitrary way that Shapudakov is being treated is new evidence of this...

For the first time in 19 years, the Turkmen government will allow the establishment of private newspapers, the BBC has reported. President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov was also quoted in the official media as saying new parties could also be formed, but that it should not happen too soon. The ex-Soviet state has seen some liberalising reforms in recent years. But critics say the changes are only...

Turkmen authorities have refused to allow husband-and-wife journalists Annamamed Myatiyev and Elena Myatiyeva to travel to the Netherlands, where Myatiyev needs to undergo an operation for a detached retina, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). They were prevented from flying on June 28. Myatiyev and his wife were told they were banned from leaving the country when they tried to fly from...

Ogulsapar Muradova, the Turkmenistan correspondent of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, died three years ago, on September 12, 2006, after being severely beaten by guards in Ovodan Depe high security prison, to the north of the capital Ashgabat. Today, the Turkmen government is waging an all-out charm offensive while still holding two other journalists, Sapardurdy Khadjiyev and Annakurban

Two Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty correspondents are being continually harassed in Turkmenistan. Dovletmurat Yazguliev and Osman Hallyev, who report for RFE/RL’s Turkmen service from the provinces, have both been subjected to threats and intimidation by local intelligence officers in the last two weeks, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “Similar situations in the past have ended...

A contributing reporter for the Turkmen Service of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) who was forcibly held for two weeks in two different psychiatric facilities has now had his phone disabled, according to RFE/RL. Bowing to international pressure, authorities freed Sazak Durdymuradov on July 3. A security officer warned him to "go and tell the truth" about his treatment in...

Turkmenistan has released a reporter working for US-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after two weeks of detention, Reuters has reported quoting a RFE/RL statement. RFE/RL said last month Sazak Durdymuradov, a contributing reporter on its Turkmen service, was detained and tortured after he refused to stop working for the Prague-based broadcaster. "The move came amid growing pressure...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the abduction, torture, and forcible psychiatric hospitalisation of Sazak Durdymuradov, a contributing reporter for the Turkmen Service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), in the Western city of Bakhaden. According to RFE/RL, Durdymuradov was seized by agents of the secret police (MNB) from his Bakhaden home on June 20...

Sazak Durdymuradov, a contributing reporter for the Turkmen Service of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), in the Western city of Bakhaden, has been abducted, tortured and subjected to forcible psychiatric hospitalisation. According to RFE/RL, Durdymuradov was seized by agents of the secret police (MNB) from his Bakhaden home on June 20 and forcibly taken to a local psychiatric...