TURKMENISTAN: SENIOR RFE/RL REPORTER CONFIRMS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ASHGABAT 000807 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/27/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: SENIOR RFE/RL REPORTER CONFIRMS ARREST AND DETENTION OF SAZAK DURDYMURADOV REF: ASHGABAT 0803 Classified By: CDA RICHARD E. HOAGLAND: 1.4 (b),(d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reporter Halmurat Gylychdurdiyev has confirmed recent reports that a Turkmen contributor to the Azatlyk radio program has been arrested and tortured by the MNB. Sazak Durdymuradov, a school teacher for 35 years, focused his contributions to RFE/RLon serious problems in public education and on corruption. Gylychdurdiyev suggested that he may have chosen to challenge authorities based on his perception that the government was softening its policy on freedom of expression. In addition, Gylychdurdiyev belived Durdymuradov's position as a longtime government employee may have played a role in the MNB's decision to engage in severe measures to persuade him to end his reporting. While the government always has been suspicious of the activities of RFE/RL contributors in Turkmenistan, this case reflects a sharp escalation in how the authorities deal with these individuals. On June 26, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed no knowledge of this case. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Poloff met with RFE/RL reporter Halmurat Gylychdurdiyev on June 26 to gather additional information about the arrest and alleged torture of Sazak Durdymuradov, described in a June 24 RFE/RL report. Durdymuradov is a 60 year old resident of Baharden, a small town some 100 kilometers northwest of Ashgabat. He has been a public school teacher there for 35 years, most recently teaching history. He is affiliated with RFE/RL, sometimes acting as a moderator for the news service's round table topical public opinion discussions, which are organized by RFE/RL's Prague office, recorded, and broadcast on its Turkmen language program, Radio Azatlyk. ¶3. (C) More recently, Durdymuradov, convinced by state-run press that the environment in Turkmenistan was becoming more tolerant and receptive to public opinion, criticism, and dialogue, began producing radio reports on corruption, the progress and direction of democratization and human rights, and serious problems in the public education system. In a recent roundtable discussion broadcast by the radio program and moderated from Prague, Durdymuradov spoke positively of President Berdimuhamedov's reform efforts, and argued that 
the current political environment is much more open and that people are not afraid to express their opinions like they were under the previous president. The phone line was cut during the discussion. ¶4. (C) The local police came to Durdymuradov's house on June 20 and insisted he come with them for questioning. According to Durdymuradov's wife, the local police told her they had been tasked with apprehending him and turning him over to Ministry of National Security (MNB) officers, who took him to a psychiatric hospital in Abadan City, just outside Ashgabat. His wife tracked him down at the Abadan hospital, where she was able to see him briefly. She said that he appeared at that time to have been severely beaten. She claimed he told her that he had been tortured in numerous ways, including by having needles shoved under his finger nails, and his feet burned with hot wire, with the goal of forcing him to sign a statement promising to stop working for RFE/RL. He refused. According to Gylychdurdiyev, Durdymuradov also told his wife that he was "not the whole man" he had been before his arrest. ¶5. (C) His wife said that when she attempted to visit him at the Abadan hospital again on June 21, she was told the MNB officers had taken him out of the facility. She learned he had been taken to the MNB's regional detention facility not far from Baharden. She was able to see him on June 24, and he told her at that time that he would go on a hunger strike. Later that same day, she learned he was to be relocated ASHGABAT 00000807 002 OF 003 again, to an isolated psychiatric hospital in Lebap Province. Gylychdurdiyev thinks that if this is true, he has been taken to the Uzinboy psychiatric hospital, where other political oppositionists have been incarcerated in the past. Durdymuradov's son had no news as of June 26 about his father's location or health condition, according to Gylychdurdiyev. Gylychdurdiyev noted that because the Durdymuradov's cell phone has been cut off, Gylychdurdiyev himself is the only reporter that now has connectivity with the radio service's offices in Prague. ¶6. (C) Gylychdurdiyev speculated that the MNB had arrested and tortured Durdymuradov because he had collaborated with RFE/RL in providing regional reports and public opinion, but just as much because he was a lifelong Turkmen government employee collaborating with an organization the government considers to be a threat to national security. Believing the political environment had changed in Turkmenistan this year, he had even posted his reporting in his own name rather than a pseudonym. ¶7. (C) Since we first became aware of this case, the Charge has tried to see Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov to present a demarche, ask for an explanation, and to call for humane treatment of Durdymuradov. Meredov has been unavailable for many reasons (reftel),not the least because of the large Russian advance team in Ashgabat preparing for President Meredov's July 4-6 visit to Turkmenistan. Late on June 26, Charge met with Foreign Ministry America's Director Serdar Bashimov, apprised him of the situation, left a copy of the demarche (text in para eight below),and copies of the RFE/RL June 24 press release and the subsequent June 25 New York Times article. Bashimov looked abashed and claimed the Foreign Ministry had no knowledge of this issue. In lieu of the unavailable foreign minister, Charge met with First Deputy Foreign Minister Wepa Hajiyev on June 27. They discussed the case and its larger implications in great detail. Hajiyev said, though previously unaware of the details of the case, he takes it with utmost seriousness and would discuss it with Foreign Minister Meredov the same day. He noted that he himself just spent several days with the EU Human Rights delegation visiting Ashgabat and is keenly aware of Turkmenistan's international image and what needs to be done. He said he wanted to assure us that President Berdimuhamedov does not want empty words about human rights; he wants actions. The Charge urged Turkmenistan to take immediate action on this case and release Durdymuradov. ¶8. BEGIN TEXT OF EMBASSY DEMARCHE: Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has reported to us and to Washington that one of its contributors, Sazak Durdymuradov, who lives in Bakharden District of Ahal Province, was seized by the police on June 20 and was taken to a Ministry of National Security facility, where he was detained for three days and allegedly tortured, reportedly for refusing to sign a statement that he agreed to stop reporting for RFE/RL. According to the RFE/RL information, Durdymuradov is now in a psychiatric clinim in Lebap Province, where he has started a hunger strike. We have no reason to doubt the general accuracy of this report. It represents a serious increase in the pattern of harassment that already exists against RFE/RL reporters and contributors, including: cutting the telephone lines of at least four RFE/RL correspondents; threats and actions against their family members, including their children; banning their travel to seminars (most recently in Bishkek) where they chould have received further professional journalism training. By any international standard -- including the human rights standards which Turkmenistan is stribing to uphold -- this kind of action is unacceptable, and we ask that it cease. ASHGABAT 00000807 003 OF 003 We ask that your government look into the treatment of Mr. Durdymuradov and address any wrongdoing. As always, we are prepared to work closely with you to meet your own reasonable concerns and, at the same time, to meet international standards and practices. END TEXT. ¶9. (C) COMMENT: While the government has never been willing to accommodate the activities of RFE/RL reporters and contributors in Turkmenistan and has maintained various levels of harassment against them, this case reflects a sharp escalation in official action against RFE/RL-affiliated individuals. We know the foreign ministry heard our message. We hope the government will take positive action. END COMMENT. HOAGLAND