Relatively soon after their arrest in June, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist, Ogulsapar Muradova, a worker for the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation, Sapardurdy Khadjiev, and another human rights activist, Annakurban Amanklychev, were sentenced to six to seven years in jail for illegal posession of weapons on August 25, according to an IRIN report. The conclusion of the trial, which was held under conditions of the strictest security and secrecy, has attracted a chorus of criticism from a range of rights organisations:

Tajigul Begmedova, head of the THF, said on Monday from the Bulgarian city of Varna, where the rights group is based, that everything related to the court process was ‘absurd’ and based on ‘trumped up charges’.
Alexander Narodetsky, director of the US-funded RFE/RL’s Turkmen service, said from Prague that he could not understand why the trio had been convicted or what for.
‘The charges and the verdicts are absolutely unclear for us. Where did they come from and how was it organised?’ Narodetsky asked.
‘Everything was happening behind the closed doors. There were no observers allowed and the whole thing was concluded very fast,’ he said.
Begmedova said the fact that the court hearings were held in secret again showed Turkmenistan’s government was not willing to ‘respect human rights or follow a democratic path.’

Nezavisimaya Gazeta carried an interview with Radio Liberty’s Turkmenistan office, which commented on the nature of the work being carried out by Muradova:

“Ogulsapar Muradova was our correspondent in Ashgabat. She covered non-political topics - education and culture. She was arrested on June 18, and her children were also arrested, though they were released after a week. But she was charged with espionage. The whole intrigue centered on a French television program being filmed in Turkmenistan. Khadzhiyev and Amynklychev were helping with the filming, while Muradova was only acquainted with them since her previous job with the Helsinki Group. Apparently, that’s why she was made to pay.

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It’s practically impossible to keep track of what will happen to her now, or to find out exactly where she’ll serve her sentence: no information about prison inmates is given out in Turkmenistan.”

According to Muradova’s layer, Kakadzhan Kadyrov, the defendants were forbidden from consulting their legal counsel and were physically prevented from communicating with them by soldiers present in the courtroom. All roads leading to the Azatlyk courthouse in Ashgabat were blocked by policemen and personnel from the National Security Ministry (SNB). Judge Guncha Khadzhikuliyeva also denied the defendants to present their case, choosing instead to conclude the proceedings in a few minutes. A Turkmen Helsinki Foundation press release notes that the conditions of the trial were in “violations of the law and basic human rights as guaranteed by the Turkmen Constitution and adds furthermore that was in spite of “the fact that during a Cabinet meeting on June 19, President Saparmurat Niyazov demanded that law enforcement agencies conduct the case in a fair and an open fashion”.

Miklos Haraszti, OSCE’s representative on freedom of the media, also condemned the dubious transparency of the trial.

“Turkmenistan did not allow observers to monitor this case. The international community is right to worry that the defendants are in trouble because of their journalistic and human rights activities.”

This case comes in the wake of renewed appeal from the International Helsinki Foundation for the release of 70-year old Turkmen dissident, Kakabai Tejenov, who has been been detained in a psychiatric facility since January this year. IHF Executive Director, Aaron Rhodes, has addressed a letter to Karel De Gucht, OSCE Chairman-in-Office, seeking his support in applying pressure on Turkmen authorities. This message follows similar earlier appeals, which it is suggested IHF’s letter, have fallen on deaf ears:

“The response, in late February, from the Delegation of Turkmenistan to the OSCE was disappointing. In a brief statement distributed to OSCE participating States, the delegation denied that Tejenov had ever been detained or that he had ever been confined to a medical institution.”