TURKMENISTAN: HIGH-PROFILE AND IRF-CONCERN NAMES

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 001081 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: HIGH-PROFILE AND IRF-CONCERN NAMES ON NEW PARDON LIST REF: ASHGABAT 1075 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (U) Post has learned that several additional names of interest were on the list of those to be amnestied on October ¶9. A source at the Turkish embassy confirmed that it was notified that six Turkish citizens were on the list (he did not note why they had been imprisoned),and OSCE representative Benjamin Moreau made us aware of several others. We also heard that a woman and man with the same last name as former Prime Minister Boris Shihmuradov were included on the list, and have now confirmed they are his sister-in-law and younger son, who were only recently convicted of bribery. In addition, the list contains the name of an individual, Kakamurat Nazarov, who was sentenced in the same time period as many other individuals charged with involvement in the 2002 attack on former President Niyazov's motorcade, but we have not been able to confirm for certain. Other names of particular interest we've discovered on the list include: -- Batyr Berdiev. The former foreign minister and ambassador to the OSCE (an especially significant pardon); -- Andrey Zatoka. An environmentalist and journalist who was charged in January with weapons possession and given a three-year suspended sentence; -- Three Jehovah's Witnesses jailed last summer for refusing compulsory military duty, including Alexandre Zuyev, Nuryagdy Gayirov, and Suleyman Udayev. Two other Jehovah's Witnesses, Begench Shahmuradov and Bayram Ashyrgeldiyev, were not on the list. ¶3. (SBU) COMMENT: We and others continue to comb through the list of almost 9,000 names, and will report any additional significant names we find. This may take some time, however, given the list's length. END COMMENT. HOAGLAND