TURKMENISTAN: PRESIDENT USUALLY NOT IMPRISONING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000079

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL, INR/I

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR KDEM TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: PRESIDENT USUALLY NOT IMPRISONING
FIRED OFFICIALS

REF: 07 STATE 168833 (NOTAL)

Classified By: Charge Richard E. Hoagland for reasons 1.4(B) and (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Little solid information exists about the
fates of former ministers and deputy ministers President
Berdimuhamedov fired during his first year in office. The
one official whose arrest (for corruption) Post was able to
confirm -- former Minister of Railroads Orazberdy
Hudayberdiyev -- was released in the October 2007 amnesty.
Post has not been able to find evidence, in any of the cases,
that family members of disgraced high-level officials are
being imprisoned or forced into internal exile, as was
frequently the case under former President Niyazov. A joint
letter of congratulations to President Berdimuhamedov around
the new year also seems to indicate that reports from last
summer of the arrests of three key advisors -- Viktor
Khramov, Aleksandr Zhadan, and Vladimir Umnov -- were false
and that the three men remain in their original positions.
The mother-in-law of one of the Gurbanmuradov brothers told
us that the government is quietly releasing 1-2 prisoners of
interest every month. All this seems to suggest that
President Berdimuhamedov is less like his predecessor than
many opposition websites claim. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Reftel requests follow-up information on a number of
individuals either rumored to have been arrested or who
President Berdimuhamedov has fired for "grave shortcomings in
their work." The following information responds to the
tasker, reporting what Post has been able to discover.


3. (C) According to reftel, President Berdimuhamedov fired
Akmammed Rakhmanov, Orazberdy Hudayberdiyev, Gurbanguly
Aytguliyev, Yusup Dawudov, Jumadurdy Kakaliyev, Ashirgeldi
Zamanov, Orazberdy Khudayberdiyev, and Agadajan Pashiyev.
Post has been able to find little follow-up information on
any of these officials, except for former Railways Minister
Orazberdy Hudayberdiyev (varient transliteration:
Khudayberdiyev),who was arrested and convicted of
corruption, but pardoned in the October 2007 "Night of
Remembrance" amnesty. Post has heard unconfirmed rumors that
Agadajan Pashiyev, previously First Deputy Minister of
National Security (MNB) was demoted, but continues to work at
the MNB. Neither Post nor OSCE has received any information
that family members of disgraced high-level officials have
been arrested or sent into internal exile, as was frequently
done under former President Niyazov.


4. (C) Post has no other solid information on why Rejepov's
son was released from prison or why former Minister of
Agriculture Payzegeldy Meredov's son was arrested. However,
a post FSN, who used to work in the Ministry of Agriculture,
reported that Meredov was rumored at the Ministry to have had
a family business that operated overseas and suggested that
Meredov's son might have been arrested because he was in
charge of that business. Post also has no additional
information regarding the reasons for Enebay Atayeva's arrest.


5. (C) Regarding Viktor Khramov, Aleksandr Zhadan, and
Vladimir Umnov, on December 31 "Neutralnyy Turkmenistan"
published a congratulatory letter to President Berdimuhamedov
from six individuals with first initials and surnames as
follows: "Yu. Ishanguliyev, V. Khramov, A. Hudayberdiyev, A.
Zhadan, Y. Paramov, V. Umnov." This strongly suggests that
the rumors of their arrest were wrong and that all are
continuing on in their previous positions. In fact,
ambassadors in Ashgabat representing FSU countires have
recently told Charge all three men are still in place,
although one has requested to retire.


6. (C) One EMBASSY FSN reported a recent encounter with the
mother-in-law of Yolly Gurbanmuradov's brother (a former
minister of telecommunications who is also in jail). The
mother-in-law at first stated that nothing had changed in

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either case. However, she then said that she remained
hopeful, because, she claimed, the government was quietly and
without any publicity releasing one or two "political
prisoners" every month or so. The government has not
announced publicly since October the release of any other
prisoners of interest, and Post has no other confirmation
that this is happening. Nevertheless, this sort of quiet
release policy may be an effort to deal with past mistakes
without being forced into a position of having to denounce
the former regime.


7. (C) COMMENT: As in many closed societies, rumor and
speculation run rampant. We caution against putting too much
credence in what the rumor mills -- particularly those in the
exile opposition press -- are saying. The widespread reports
from last spring and summer of Khramov, Zhadan, and Umnov's
arrest have been proven false. The intriguing questions
remains why the government would not publicize the release of
prisoners of concern, when it would gain considerable
international approbation for doing so. The government
remains hypersensitive about the rotten international
reputation it developed under Niyazov, and may simply not
want to call attention to the past. Post will continue to
try to obtain follow-up information on the fate of former
high-level officials who have been fired. Based on the
limited information we have to date, however, we believe that
we are seeing the beginning of a trend that may signal
Berdimuhamedov is trying to avoid the excesses of his
predecessor in the treatment of former officials. END
COMMENT.
HOAGLAND