Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06ASHGABAT1097
2006-10-20 13:44:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Ashgabat
Cable title:  

Turkmenistan's President Niyazov Amnesties 10,000 Prisoners

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PINR TX 
pdf how-to read a cable
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FM AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7929
INFO RUCNOSC/OSCE POST COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCJ2/HSE/CCJ5//
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC//J5/RUE//
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001097 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY)

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR TX
SUBJECT: Turkmenistan's President Niyazov Amnesties 10,000 Prisoners


REF: 05 Ashgabat 653

Summary
-------

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001097

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PERRY)

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR TX
SUBJECT: Turkmenistan's President Niyazov Amnesties 10,000 Prisoners


REF: 05 Ashgabat 653

Summary
--------------


1. (U) President Niyazov announced on October 16 that he would
amnesty 10,056 prisoners, including 8 people convicted of crimes
related to the alleged November 2002 presidential assassination
attempt. A lengthy list, published only in Turkmen, was released on
October 18. Niyazov said that the eight terrorists' names would be
highlighted, but there were no special markings in the publication
and none of the government's list of 60 terrorists who were
sentenced in January 2003 was included. Post's analysis of the list
identified several third tier "terrorists" and several embassy
advocacy cases. End Summary.

To the Ten Thousand: "You're Free!"
--------------


2. (U) On October 18, three Turkmen-language newspapers published a
list of 10,056 prisoners who were pardoned pursuant to President
Niyazov's October 16 decree. The annual tradition of pardoning
prisoners on the Night of Omnipotence, marking the end of the month
of Ramadan, has been in practice locally since 1999. Among other
benefits, this annual amnesty may help to reduce prison populations,
because, reportedly, space is hard to find by the time the next
amnesty rolls around. According to National Security Minister
Geldimuhammet Ashyrmuhammedov, 10,056 prisoners out of 18,604, or
54% of all inmates, were released on October 19. This year marks
the largest number of prisoners pardoned in a single year; Niyazov
reported that 150,000 inmates have been pardoned since 1999.

Who Are the Released Criminals?
--------------


3. (U) The list is comprised mostly of petty criminals charged with
theft, robbery, drug trading, swindling, and similar crimes, who
were sentenced in 2005 or 2006. Many of the released are likely to
return to prison for similar convictions, although second-round
convicts' chances for pardoning are reduced. During the national
People's Council session in October 2005, Niyazov said that 4,000
inmates remained in prison after the 2005 amnesty, which means that
14,000 people were imprisoned during the past year.

Mercy for the Terrorists?
--------------


4. (SBU) "We will also release eight of those who tried to

overthrow the government and got involved in terrorism [in November
2002] and who have repented now," Niyazov announced during the
October 16 meeting. "They are the ones who didn't engage directly
and didn't take arms in their hands." Niyazov had mentioned the
release of some "2002 terrorists" to former EUR Deputy Assistant
Secretary Laura Kennedy in February 2005 and Foreign Minister Rashit

SIPDIS
Meredov wrote in his June 27, 2005 letter to U.S. Congressmen Smith
and Brownback that, "In October 2006, on the eve of the 15th
anniversary of Turkmenistan's independence, the President of
Turkmenistan will pardon the main part of the persons convicted for
participation in the terrorist act, perpetrated on November 25, 2002
in Ashgabat" (reftel). In January 2003, the government of
Turkmenistan announced that approximately 60 people were convicted
for participation in the November 2002 events. Post estimates that
the number of arrested people was at least 120, and acknowledges
that there may be more.


5. (SBU) So, where are the eight? Despite Niyazov's clear
instructions to his ministers, that the eight "terrorists" be
clearly marked, the Ashgabat OSCE Human Dimension office and the
embassy's political section could not clearly identify the eight,
even after a name-by-name search. Three new names were identified
as co-conspirators to the November 2002 event that were not
previously known to embassy staff. They are a family of three, a
mother and two sons, who were sentenced on January 16, 2003 by the
Supreme Court: Galina, Mihail and Nikolay Comissarov. According to
their neighbor, an embassy employee, one of the sons, a drug user,
sold his mother's clothing in late 2002 to a "coup plotter," who
used it as a disguise.


6. (SBU) Post suspects that none of the government-identified 60
terrorists were pardoned. One possibility exists: Arslan Babayev,
who shares all but the same patronymic name as an identified inmate.
Two names on the embassy's list approximate the period of
conviction and the high level of judicial attention during that
period of time, but post has no conclusive information:

-- Prokofyeva, Svetlana, born in 1965, sentenced by the Ashgabat
city court on February 21, 2003;

-- Bayramova, Enetach, born in 1957, sentenced by the Mary
provincial court on January 31, 2003.

There are four additional names with a positive correlation, but
again there is no supporting data. Post sent a request to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs through diplomatic note on October 20,
requesting a list of the eight.


Familiar Names on the List
--------------


7. (SBU) Post has identified three other amnestied people, whose
cases were followed by staff:

-- Cheper Annaniyazova, a Hare Krishna devotee sentenced on November
17, 2005, in Ashgabat, for illegally crossing the Turkmenistan
border. Her case was included in the 2005 Human Rights Report.

-- Igor Kaprielov, Rahym Esenov's son-in-law, sentenced
conditionally on March 31, 2004, in Ashgabat, for smuggling Esenov's
banned book "Crowned Wanderer." Charge met with Kaprielev at the
Ashgabat OSCE office on October 20. Although Kaprielov's was not
given an amnesty certification because he refused to take the
requisite oath on the "Ruhnama," he told Charge that he is confident
he legally is pardoned.

-- Tashli Esenov, a member of an independent farmers' group
"Ilkinjiler," which the embassy has close ties with; sentenced on
December 22, 2005, in Turkmengala district of Mary province on
embezzlement charges. Post works with many members of the Ilkinjiler
group, and officers were told that Esenov's arrest was politically
motivated. Embassy had sent a diplomatic note asking for specifics
of the case following the arrest and had been warned in response to
stay out of "Turkmenistan's internal affairs."

The List
--------------


8. (SBU) The awkward alphabetization of the list indicates that the
published Turkmen language list was first compiled in Cyrillic
Turkmen or Russian. Niyazov still likes to read and write in
Cyrillic Turkmen, which might have been a reason for the list's
original compilation in Cyrillic script. The oldest released
prisoner was born in 1929 and the youngest in 1991; the
longest-serving convict was sentenced in 1997 and the most-recent
sentencing was August 30, 2006. (Note: Post doesn't exclude the
possibility that the year 1929 might have been a typo. End note.)
Post did not find any government officials listed who were charged
with corruption, embezzlement or nepotism during the past
one-and-a-half years.

Life After Amnesty
--------------


9. (SBU) OSCE Human Dimension Officer Benjamin Moreau told Charge
that a number of the amnestied had come by the office requesting
assistance on post-amnesty life. Moreau said they noted they had
paid anywhere from $2k to $40k to be put on the amnesty list,
according to the severity of the crime.


10. (SBU) Moreau said at least two of the amnestied had been
contacted by the Russian Embassy to inform them of a "compatriot
law" signed in June allowing loosely defined "compatriots" to return
to Russia. According to Moreau, this legislation was passed because
Russia was losing its population to emigration at the rate of
700,000/year. Moreau said Russia was recruiting educated Russian
speaking "compatriots" to settle in the Far East and was offering an
"attractive jobs and housing package." Moreau believed a number of
the educated amnestied would likely opt for this option and leave
Turkmenistan for good.

Comment
--------------


11. (SBU) The ICRC and diplomatic missions working in Turkmenistan
have been persistent in pressuring Niyazov and Foreign Minister
Meredov, who promised one and one-half years ago that the government
would release "the main part" of the group associated with the
November 2002 events. The pardoning of the eight is most likely a
conciliatory gesture to the international community. If the
government hoped that this amnesty would take some of the pressure
off the government for its treatment of those accused of complicity
in the 2002 assassination attempt, however, the lack of prominent --
or even second-tier -- names is sure to be a disappointment. End
Comment.

BRUSH