Amnesty International Report 1995 - Turkmenistan

Two probable prisoners of conscience were detained. A third person detained briefly in connection with the same case was reportedly tortured. A probable prisoner of conscience was confined to a psychiatric hospital. At least one person was executed. In January a referendum confirmed the extension of President Saparmurad Niyazov's term in office for a further five years and presidential elections scheduled for 1997 were cancelled. Yusup Kuliyev was detained for around 15 days in October and November by agents of the State Security Committee (KGB) and questioned about an alleged plot to assassinate the President. He was reportedly tortured in detention. Shortly after he had been detained Khoshali Garayev and Mukhammad Aymuradov, both Russian citizens of Turkmen origin, were arrested in Uzbekistan by Turkmenistan KGB agents. Both were reportedly also charged with plotting to assassinate President Niyazov. However, sources alleged that the charge had been fabricated to punish them for their opposition sympathies. They were still in detention at the end of the year and there were fears that they too had been tortured. Valentin Kopusev, a probable prisoner of conscience, was reportedly confined against his will in a psychiatric hospital not for medical reasons but to punish him for his opposition to the authorities. Reportedly, his detention came after he wrote a letter to the President complaining about the lack of democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms in Turkmenistan. The death penalty remained in force for 13 offences in peacetime (not 18 as reported in Amnesty International Report 1993). Information was received that the death penalty had been repealed for one offence in 1991 and for two others in 1993. At least one person convicted of murder was executed in 1994. In February the Minister of Foreign Affairs sent a detailed reply to the Amnesty International report, Turkmenistan: A summary of concerns about prisoners of conscience, ill-treatment and the death penalty, published in November 1993, in which he rejected the report's conclusions and recommendations on the grounds that they were based on "free interpretations and emotions". He also denied that people described in the report as prisoners of conscience had ever been arrested or detained for political reasons. Amnesty International sought further information about the criminal charge against Khoshali Garayev and Mukhammad Aymuradov, and called on the authorities to ensure that they were not tortured. Replying in December, the Ambassador of Turkmenistan to the USA declined to provide further information about the charge, but asserted that "the Government of Turkmenistan does not condone the maltreatment of detainees or prisoners". Amnesty International sought further information about the detention of Valentin Kopusev in a psychiatric hospital. It continued to call for the abolition of the death penalty.