http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2006/04/16/atajanova-in-jail/ Just another WordPress weblog Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:54:01 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.3 http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2006/04/16/atajanova-in-jail/#comment-3141 turkmenistan.neweurasia.net » Niyazov Cult Builder Falls Victim to his Prophet’s Wrath Thu, 17 Aug 2006 16:39:33 +0000 http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/2006/04/16/atajanova-in-jail/#comment-3141 [...] After the dramatic arrest of the General Prosecutor Gurbanbiby Atajanova in April, the time of reckoning has also come for another figure close to the Niyazov regime. President Saparmurat Niyazov had signed a decree in June ordering Kakamurad Balliyev’s dismissal from his position as editor as the Ministry of Defence’s official newspaper, Esger, for “serious shortcomings in the course of performing professional duties and committing a criminal offence”. It has now been reported that Balliyev has been handed a stiff prison sentence, as Arkady Dubnov explains in this partially translated article from Russian daily Vremya Novostei: President Saparmurat Niyazov’s former press secretary Kakamurad Balliyev, it was announced recently, has been sentenced to a 17-year jail sentence. However, unlike the trial of other high-placed officials, nothing has yet been declared by the authorities about Balliyev’s closed trial. It is not even known exactly what charges were levelled against Balliyev. Balliyev, 53, was arrested at the end of June this year, only a few days after the outbreak of the spy scandal. A few Western diplomats and journalists were then accused of involvement in opposition activities and filming in markets and the demolition of old houses. Balliyev was a typical representative of the Niyazov elite, instrumental in forging the cult of personality and was believed to be devoted to his leader. The former General Prosecutor, Gurbanbiby Atajanova, who was recently sentenced to 20 years in jail for corruption, was also believed such a person. According to Vremya Novostei’s sources in Ashgabat, rumours had long been circulating about Atajanova and Balliyev’s propensity for greed and corruption some time before their arrest. And if, as unofficial sources have claimed, Balliyev’s charges were related to abuse of authority, it seems that the grounds for his arrest were substantial. [...] […] After the dramatic arrest of the General Prosecutor Gurbanbiby Atajanova in April, the time of reckoning has also come for another figure close to the Niyazov regime. President Saparmurat Niyazov had signed a decree in June ordering Kakamurad Balliyev’s dismissal from his position as editor as the Ministry of Defence’s official newspaper, Esger, for “serious shortcomings in the course of performing professional duties and committing a criminal offence”. It has now been reported that Balliyev has been handed a stiff prison sentence, as Arkady Dubnov explains in this partially translated article from Russian daily Vremya Novostei: President Saparmurat Niyazov’s former press secretary Kakamurad Balliyev, it was announced recently, has been sentenced to a 17-year jail sentence. However, unlike the trial of other high-placed officials, nothing has yet been declared by the authorities about Balliyev’s closed trial. It is not even known exactly what charges were levelled against Balliyev. Balliyev, 53, was arrested at the end of June this year, only a few days after the outbreak of the spy scandal. A few Western diplomats and journalists were then accused of involvement in opposition activities and filming in markets and the demolition of old houses. Balliyev was a typical representative of the Niyazov elite, instrumental in forging the cult of personality and was believed to be devoted to his leader. The former General Prosecutor, Gurbanbiby Atajanova, who was recently sentenced to 20 years in jail for corruption, was also believed such a person. According to Vremya Novostei’s sources in Ashgabat, rumours had long been circulating about Atajanova and Balliyev’s propensity for greed and corruption some time before their arrest. And if, as unofficial sources have claimed, Balliyev’s charges were related to abuse of authority, it seems that the grounds for his arrest were substantial. […]

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